The Truth About My Baby Girl
by Idontwannabeanythingother
Summary: Leela Lomax had another baby when she was 23, find out what happened to that baby and what she will do to make things right again. Suck at summaries, rated T to be safe but will probably be mainly a K. Please read and review- This is my first fanfiction.
1. The Letter

**Okay, so this is my first fanfiction, it's probably not very good but I would love to know what you all think. So here we go...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters apart from Emma and Josh or the brilliance that is Hollyoaks**

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It had been 3 years, 357 days, 12 hours and 17 minutes since that agonizing moment.

3 years, 357 days, 12 hours and 17 minutes since her Mum had told her that her beautiful baby girl was dead. At first she thought she had misheard, that surely it couldn't be true. It took her Mum coming to the side of her bed, holding her hand and repeating those words 4-5 times for the fact she wasn't going to be a Mum for the second time.

Leela. She's gone, she didn't make it.

Those seven simple words that meant so much. The first time she found out she was pregnant 14 years ago, she was still in school, her boyfriend Cameron had just been arrested for armed robbery and her Mum was furious. Yet, being the determined, brave girl she was, she had already decided that she was keeping her baby and she was going to be the best Mum she could be. Her baby was the only thing she had of Cam, aside from a bunch of photos of them together on her phone. However, her mum was stubborn and always got exactly what she wanted, at the time what she wanted happened to be Leela's unborn baby.

**(Flashback) **

**"I have spoken with your Dad and you have two options if you want to have this baby. One: you give it up for adoption. Or two: your Dad and I raise the baby as our own, we provide for it and you go to school, university and get a job and no-one ever finds out the truth, not Cameron, not the baby, nobody . I will give you some time to think everything through and then you can let me know what you have decided, if you don't like either option, then I'll take you to get it terminated and we will forget all about this... You have until the end of the week." Her Mum had told her, she couldn't believe her Mum, sure she was only 14 herself but her Mum couldn't seriously expect her to kill her baby, she would rather die herself than kill her baby, even giving it away, she couldn't think about it. Her baby waking up everyday, growing up with some other people telling him/her that they're he/she's Mummy and Daddy. She looked up at her Mum as she walked away and did the only thing she could to be a part in her baby's life. "Mum...I'll do it. I'll let you and Dad raise the baby. But I do have a couple of conditions. I get to pick the name, you tell me anything that happens in it's life and I get to see her whenever I want. Please..." She had made that deal to be a part of her baby's life, knowing her Mum and Dad would take good care of her precious baby. "Okay. You're doing the right thing." That was all her Mum had uttered before making her way out of the front door. **

Her first child turned out to be a gorgeous little girl that she named Peri Jade Lomax. Her second child didn't even get an hour. Nine months waiting to meet her baby girl and she didn't even live for an hour, the doctors didn't even allow her to hold the baby before whisking her away and telling her that her beautiful baby girl was dead.

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**Leela's P.O.V **

It' now January 2015, seven months since I told Peri that I am her real Mum and she met her real Dad. It has also been seven months since my Mum and Dad died in a car crash on there way to get Peri, my sister Tegan and her now two year old daughter Rose, to take them to live in New Zealand.

"Mum, can I go round to Tom's for a bit?" Mum. I loved it when she called me that. After hearing my baby girl call someone else Mum everyday since she learned to talk, I couldn't help but feel instantly happier every time I heard her address me as her Mum. "Mum?"

"Sorry, yeah, of course just be back before lunch okay?"

"Ok thanks Mum. See you later" She replied hugging me before running out of the house.

Ten minutes later and I am bored out of my mind, Peri's at Tom's, Cameron's at work, Tegan's shopping with Rose and Ste's god knows where with John Paul. I swear since they got married, I haven't seen him for more than a couple of hours a week, when he comes for more clothes or to bring Leah and Lucas round for a bit.

I go upstairs to take a shower only to realize there's no conditioner left, and for the first time since they died, I cross the hall to Mum and Dad's room to see if Mum left any in there. There isn't any on her drawers or on her desk, so I begin to look through the drawers. After looking for a few minutes, being the impatient person I am, I start to close the drawer to move on to the next one when I see an envelope with my name scrawled across the front. I free it from the drawer and pull the paper out of the envelope and begin to read:

**Leela, **

**I am so, so sorry for the things I have done. But please believe me when I say that I never meant to cause you any pain through my actions. I will never forgive myself for the things I have done and the way I have acted towards you since that day when you came home and told me you were pregnant with Peri. But I need you to know that I fully regret my actions when you told me about your second pregnancy with little Emma Grace, when you were 23. At the time I was under a lot of pressure and I was in a bad place. I know your probably going to hate me forever, and honestly, I don't blame you in the slightest for it . But you need to know that Emma is alive and is living in foster care on the other side of Chester. Her address is 18 Grosvenor Street, Chester, CH1 2DD. I can only apologize a certain number of times. But I am truly sorry. All My Love Mum xxx **

My baby is alive and I am going to find her and bring her home. And I am going to do it as soon as possible.

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**Okay, so that is my first chapter please review and tell me if I should continue the story or not. **

_**Idontwannabeanythingother :):) **_


	2. Emma Grace Davis

**Okay chapter 2, here we go...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters apart from Emma, Josh, Jake and any other characters I might add in. I also do not own the amazing Hollyoaks**

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_**My baby is alive and I am going to find her and bring her home. And I am going to do it as soon as possible...**_

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**Cameron's P.O.V**

"Cameron... I just need you to do the order for table seven and then you can go." I can't wait to get home to see my girls. Ever since I got out of prison and found out that Peri is my little girl, wherever I go and whatever I do, I can't help but feel over-joyed that I have the love of my life and my beautiful daughter in my life. After being separated from my family for 14 years all because Leela's Mum set me up for a crime I didn't commit, and now my baby girl is 14 years old and I've missed her whole childhood. But I still wouldn't change it for the world, it kills me to know that I missed seeing her smile, walk, talk for the first time, her first day at school. Now though, seeing her everyday and hearing her call me 'Dad', lessens the pain that I have felt everyday since I lost her all that time ago.

I walk up the steps to the house and go in through that big blue door. Peri's over on the couch staring at her phone, as per usual, and my gorgeous Leela over in the kitchen. She hasn't noticed me yet so as Peri looks up with a smile about to reveal my presence, I whip a finger up to my mouth and point to the kitchen beginning to make my way over to her. I wrap my arms around her waist and lean my head on her left shoulder to kiss her cheek. However, what I didn't expect was for her cheeks to be damp and mascara stained, so I spin her round to face me and she suddenly finds the floor very interesting. "Babe, what's wrong? Talk to me?" I try, cupping her chin and raising her face to meet those brilliant blue eyes.

"Nothing... Listen, um, I need to go out for a bit, I, I'm not sure what time I'll be back... But lunch is almost ready, the sauce just needs a bit longer. I gotta go." That's it she leans up to kiss my cheek, grabs her bag, phone and keys, and kisses Peri on the top of her head. Not even looking back before leaving the house.

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**Leela's P.O.V**

"Nothing... Listen, um, I need to go out for a bit, I, I'm not sure what time I'll be back... But lunch is almost ready, the sauce just needs a bit longer. I gotta go." I lean up kissing Cam on the cheek, grab my things, and kiss the top of Peri's head, before leaving the house. Not daring to look back at my little family, afraid that I might breakdown and lose the confidence I had just built up. I raced down the steps and round to The Dog's carpark, where my car is. I jump in and start the car. Ready to get back my baby.

45 minutes later...

45 minutes is all it takes to get to her address. For almost four years I have only been 45 minutes away from my precious little baby girl. Just when I am about to get out of the car, I catch sight of my reflection in the rear-view mirror. That would have been a great way to meet the people that had raised my daughter for the best part of four years. Panda eyes and tear tracks trailing down my cheeks.

Now that I look presentable again, I climb out of the car with my bag and make my way to the front door, giving 5 short knocks and taking a step away from the door. A few minutes later and the door opens revealing a raven haired child looking to be around the age of 13. "Can I help you?" She mutters.

"Erm, Yeah I need to speak with your Mum and Dad, or whoever you live with here. Please."

"JAKE!" She calls, before signaling for me to come in and over to a couch.

"What's up Nicole? You know I am trying to feed to the younger kids." This must be Jake. He looks okay I guess, not in the way as though I fancy him, but kind and sort of caring.

"Hi, my names Leela Lomax, I need to talk to you about something, it's really important." I'm so glad that my confidence is still showing.

"Yeah, of course... Nicole can you go help Brooke feed the kids while I have a chat with this woman... This way please Miss Lomax." He instructs leading me into a room a little to the left of the front door.

"So, how can I help you."

"I'm looking for my daughter, she was in a way taken from me, and I was told that she was in your care, her name is Emma Grace Davis, here I found this letter in my house earlier today, it explains things a bit better. Just Leela by the way."

I watch as he looks through the letter and then back up at me. "Well, we do have a child under that name, so I believe I can help you, Leela." He grins as he says my name. "I'll go get her and bring her through and do a few checks as precaution."

We talk for a while discussing the processes I need to go through in order to take her home with me and he explains about fostering and adopting her, before he leaves the office to get her.

A few minutes later and he walks in with a small child in tow. I know instantly that this is my child, she has Josh's green eyes, and golden blonde hair, along with some of my facial features. "Emma, this is Leela Lomax, she's here to talk to us. Why don't you sit on that chair next to her and we'll have a little chat"

"Okay Emma, a few years ago, this lady had a little baby girl and she called her Emma..."

"Wike my name!" she interrupts, smiling wildly.

"Yes Emma, like your name. Well anyway, when the baby was born she was taken away by someone, and now this lady is looking for her baby." She scrunches up her little nose, trying to understand what she was told. "Why was da baby taten. Why do da wady come hewe." She is so cute, she is the perfect combination of Josh and I. Jake looks to me silently communicating with me, so I nod and turn to face my baby girl. "The baby was taken because there was a lady... that was very... sad and she didn't want me to have my baby..." I trail off looking up to Jake unsure whether I am the one that should tell her she is my daughter. He moves to crouch in front of her chair, before looking up at her little face. "Emma, she is here because she wanted to find her little girl and take her back home with her. Emma... you are her little girl." She turns to look at me again, with a look of concentration as she thinks. "Weally? You wan to tate me wif you?" She questions, hope evident on her face. I nod, and she moves so that she is standing on her chair, and for the first time she comes in, I realize she is small for her age and could probably pass for turning three in 8 days rather than four. She leans close to me and wraps her little arms around my neck. I feel tears begin to trail down my cheeks as she pulls away to sit back on her chair. "Why you cwyin'?"

"I'm just happy that all." I give her a watery smile. Jake is now back at his desk typing away at his computer, pausing and swiveling round on his chair to face us. "Hey Emma, why don't you go play in your room for a while so I can talk to Leela about taking you home okay?"

"Otay, you won't weave will you?" Fear clear in her eyes.

"I won't leave without seeing you again first okay?"

"You pwomiss?" She asks, holding out her little finger.

"I promise." I say, linking my finger with hers grinning like an idiot.

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"So I'll see you tomorrow then yeah?" After talking for over an hour and a half, and being told that there was no way I'd be able to take Emma home today, since today was the first day we'd met each properly and Jake still needed to check around the house to make sure it was a safe environment for a child. "Yeah, 2 Oakdale Drive right?" He says checking his notes and placing them on his desk. "Yeah... Can I say goodbye to Emma before I go?"

"Of course, just let me call her down." He then walks to the bottom of the stair and yells loudly for her to come down stairs. Not even a minute later and she is running across the landing towards the top of the stairs, grabbing the rail and coming down them as fast as her little legs can carry her. But her face falls instantly when she sees me putting my jacket on by the door. "You sayed you'd not weave." She says hurt laden in her voice and her bottom lip trembling.

"Come here a minute," I sigh sadly holding out my arms and she runs over for me to pick her up. "I have to go so that I can go buy you some stuff for when you come home with me, you can't sleep on the floor can you." She wriggles down out of my grasp and runs over to Jake. "I go buy tings too? Pweeeaaassee?" She begs. "I don't know Emma, I'm sure Leela doesn't want you distracting her. I bet she doesn't have a car seat for you to ride in either." He says looking up at me expectantly.

"Actually my sister has a daughter not much younger than Emma, so I have a car seat in my boot she could use, and it would probably help to have her there so I know what things to buy for her... I mean if that's okay with you... You could come to if you want... Or if you tell me what time to bring her back I can have her here by then." I say pleading with him through both my eyes and my words.

"Okay she can go but I want her back by 6pm at the latest, don't be late." He warns sternly.

"YAY!" Emma yells cheerily, clapping her small hands quickly, jumping up and down, eyes shining brightly.

"Emma what have I told you about shouting." He reprimands.

"Sowwy, but I so escited. I get my coat." She squeals as she runs in the direction of a cupboard.

After a few minutes she races towards me her coat on one arm as she tries to pull it on while running. I laugh and kneel down to help her. Once she is ready she grabs my hand to pull me out of the door, only to be stopped by the sound of Jake's voice. "Emma hang on a minute," He comes over to us and kneels down looking Emma in the eyes. "Right, you need to listen to everything Leela says, do whatever you're told, be good and what do you need to remember?" He questions. "My peases and tank yous, and always be nice to odder people." she grins proudly as she recites the rules she needs to know. "Good girl, now off you go...oh and Leela, six o'clock at the latest. He warns with a stern exprssion.


	3. Mummy

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters apart from Josh, Emma, Jake and any other characters I might add in throughout the story. I also do not on the brilliance that is Hollyoaks**

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_**"Good girl, now off you go...oh and Leela, six o'clock at the latest. He warns with a stern expression.**_

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**Leela's P.O.V**

Hand in hand we walk towards the car while Emma skips alongside me.

I unlock it and open the boot to grab Rose's car seat for Emma to use, still clutching her hand tightly. I'm scared that if I let go she'll disappear and I'll lose her again. And that I simply couldn't take. "Stand right there a minute while I put the car seat in okay?" She nods a smile still planted on her face, as I turn and fix the car seat into the car. "Right in we go." I say twisting round to lift her into the car, before walking round to the drivers side and starting the engine.

It takes 25 minutes to get to town from the foster home, so I indulge myself in the sound of Emma's happy chatter. Asking her questions about her current home, her likes/dislikes, her favourite colour. Before I notice her beginning to droop obviously in need of a nap, so I turn the radio on, careful to keep it at a low volume, in hopes that it will lull her to sleep until we reach town.

Finally I find a place to park my car and turn off the engine getting my things ready to go, when my phone starts blaring. I grab my phone as quickly as I can, so not to wake Emma, not having time to check the Caller ID.

**(Phonecall)**

Leela: Hello?

Cameron: Hey babe, just checking you're ok, you've been gone for quite a while now. I don't like seeing you upset you know.

Leela: Yeah I'm fine now, I just needed to clear my head, and I couldn't do that at home.

Cameron: Are you sure Lee? You know you can tell me anything right?

Leela: Yeah Cam I know. I'm fine I promise.

Cameron: When are you coming back ? Peri wants to watch one of those awful chick flicks with you. I said I would watch one with her, but she said and I quote 'Err...Thanks Dad but I don't really fancy listening to you commenting about how stupid it is right through the film while I'm trying to listen.'

Leela: *Laughs* I won't be back until around seven, so can you sort Pez some tea please.

Cameron: Lee what's going on? Where are you?

Leela: I promise that I'll explain everything when I get back yeah. Uh, I gotta go.

Cameron: *sighs* Just be careful babe. I love you.

Leela: I love you too, bye.

**(End of phonecall)**

As I end the call Emma begins to stir, so I grab my bag and jump out of the front of the car and into the back to get her sorted. She yawns and rubs her eyes, followed with stretching while I un-clip the clasp on the car seat. Once freed from the restraints of her seat I lift her in to my lap and stroke through her golden hair as she wakes up properly, all the time cuddling closer into me.

"Emma, do you have a push chair at home?" I ask as we walk around ToysRus.

"No only sum a de odder kids do cos dey babies. Jake sayed I don't need one an I sud walk. Cos I'm neawy four." She says holding up four of her little fingers, she is absolutely adorable.

"So do you know what toys you want?"

"I pick? Jake always picks."

"Yeah of course baby." I frown "Jake always picks?"

"He sayed dat if he don't pick, den no-one picks. But de odder kids are olda so dey get to pick, cos' dey have dere own money an I don't cos' I's onwy thwee." She explains slowly trying to get the words out clear, nothing but concentration on her face.

"Well then you better have a go at picking some stuff now." I give her a sad smile. "I'll race you to the teddies?" I challenge my eyes sparkling mischievously though she looks unsure. I grab her hand again in attempt to reassure her. "Ready. Steady. Go!" I yell as we set off in search of the stuffed animals. "Down that one Em." I yell pointing out different directions, I release her hand and run slightly slower as she skids to a stop at the start of the isle. I then speed up until I reach her, picking her up and swinging her around while she giggles. "Stop! Stop! I gettin' dizzy!" She yells as I pull her closer to me.

"Sorry baby, lets choose some toys."

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We spend just over half an hour in the toy store and leave with four dolls, two sets of play dough, a set of colouring pens, three colouring books and doll accessories. We then go to Next and get three duvet covers, two sheets, and some curtains which Emma insists should be pink. After that, we go to Argos to get a bed and other essentials. "Okay Em, what colour pushchair do you want?"

"Pink!" She squeals happily, as I flip through the catalogue.

"There aren't any pink ones Emma, what other colours do you like?"

"Ummm...Puwpul!" She says again just as happy.

"Okay, purple, do you like this one?" I ask pointing to one at the top of one of the pages.

"Yeah! Are we neawy done now Leela?" She questions leaning against my legs. It is killing me that Emma is my second child that calls me by my first name instead of 'Mum', but im scared to bring it up because we've just met and I don't want to pressurize her into anything. "Yeah," I answer quickly finding a bed and a car seat. "We just need to go over there and wait for the things to be ready, then we can go and get you something to eat." I finish tapping her cute little button nose. We wait at the seats by the collection point, me on a chair and Emma sat on my knee facing me, falling asleep. I honestly don't know how I'm supposed to carry all this stuff, I guess it's a good job I parked quit close to the shop. "COLLECTION NUMBER 237" the machine calls, as I stand up with Emma and the bags in my arms. "Emma? Emma baby? Come on, I need you to wake up so I can carry your stuff." She stretches and I place her onto the floor. I pile the pushchair and the car seat on top of the bed's box and lift it off of the counter. "Thanks... Emma, I need you to hold onto my arm, so that you don't get lost. Ready?" I instruct leading her away. These things are so heavy, I wish Cameron was here to carry the things, but I know he can't be because I haven't even told him about Emma. It's not like I can just call him up and be like _**'Hey Cam, will you come with me to buy a bed, a pushchair, a car seat, and a bunch of toys, because I have a three year old daughter I never told you about and she's coming to live with us soon.**_' I hope he's not too mad, I don't think I could cope without him by my side.

We finally reach the car and I have to put the stuff on a wall beside it, before unlocking it and opening the boot. I pile the stuff in the boot, and place the bags next to them, shutting the boot. "Okay, come on baby, lets go get some tea. Try not to fall asleep just yet and then you can have a sleep after we eat." I say strapping her into Rose's car seat.

I take her to McDonalds and we sit in there for another half hour until it gets to quarter past five. "Right we better go before you start falling asleep on me little miss and we don't want Jake to be mad do we." I see fear sweep across her face when I mention Jake being mad and I suddenly start to worry about the reasons for that. "What's wrong Em?"

"N-nufin, we g-go now?" She stammers, sliding out of the booth before grabbing my hand and tugging gently on it. "Yeah, are you sure baby?" I receive a nod as I stand up and we walk out the door towards the car again.

We drive for about ten minutes before she breaks the silence with an exhausted voice. "Leela?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you my Mummy?"

"Yeah."

"Good, I wike you." She mumbles tiredly, I smile to myself and look back in the rear-view mirror to see her fast asleep with her thumb stuck firmly in her mouth.

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I take her back to the home and knock on the door, waiting only a few seconds for it to be opened by Jake. "Hey, here I'll take her." He says softly, careful not to wake Emma.

"I was actually hoping you would let me put her to bed?" I say trying not to get my hopes up to high in fear of him saying no. "Yeah sure, this way." He leads me upstairs, down a corridor and into a little bedroom that could pass for being a guest room because the only personal things are a teddy bear, a blanket on the bed and a plastic box in the corner of the room. Jake passes me some pyjamas and I move over to the bed. I set her down gently and remove her shoes and socks. I then slip off her little clothes and replace them with her pyjamas. I lift her carefully off the bed into one arm and pull back the covers. I lie her down and cover her over, I kiss her head softly. "I'll see you tomorrow. Sweet dreams baby, I love you." I whisper in her ear.

And as I pull away she mumbles, "Night Mummy."


	4. Telling Cameron

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters apart from Josh, Emma, Jake and any other characters I might add in throughout the story. I also do not on the brilliance that is Hollyoaks.**

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_**"I'll see you tomorrow. Sweet dreams baby, I love you." I whisper in her ear.**_

_**And as I pull away she mumbles, "Night Mummy."**_

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**Leela's P.O.V**

I've been sitting in the car for the past fifteen minutes trying to come up with some way that I can tell Cameron about Emma, but I still have nothing. After another few minutes of sitting in the car my phone buzzes, drawing me from my thoughts, I turn and search through my bag for it.

**Pez 1m ago- Text message**

I unlock my phone and click on my messages, opening the thread with Peri's name

**Wen r u comin back mum? Dad sed u'd watch a DVD w/ me wen u get back cos' I wudnt watch 1 w/ him cos he jst tlks thru them. He sed u'd b back b4 7 but it's 1/2 past now and I'm bored. Dad's in the shwr, Tegan's upstrs w/ Rose and Ste's out w/ John Paul again :( xxxx**

Now I feel bad, because while I've been sat in the car, my first baby needs me, so I grab my bag and walk round to the boot to pull across the trunk cover before shutting it again. I can't really get them out now because someone would see before I get the chance to tell Cameron and Peri. If anyone saw me with a push chair and a car seat, they'd probably think I was pregnant and then the whole village would think the same and Cameron would think the same.

I walk slowly up the steps trying to come up with a reason as to why I've been gone for the past seven hours. I open the front door just as Cameron comes down the stairs, he smiles and grabs his shirt off the radiator. I walk over to him and kiss him lightly on the lips before pulling away and going upstairs to Peri's room. "So are we gonna watch a film or what?" I ask and she turns around beaming at me as she jumps of her bed, grabs a DVD of the bedside table and rushes over to me enveloping me in a hug. "You're back, I didn't think you would come back tonight."

"Yeah, I'll always come back to you." I say looking her in the eyes. "Why don't you put your pj's on and I'll set up the DVD yeah?"

"Okay, but don't start without me." She says her expression turning serious.

"Me, never." I say with mock hurt, she giggles as I turn and walk to my own room to put on my pyjamas before heading down stairs, setting the film up and going to the kitchen to make some toffee popcorn, Peri's favourite. "Babe, can we talk now?" Cameron says, slipping his arms around my waist, resting his chin in the crook of my neck. "When Peri goes to bed Cam, she doesn't need to hear this before she goes to sleep." I answer stepping out of his embrace and moving towards the couch to wait for Pez.

She comes down a few minutes later, sits next to me and leans into my side, her feet tucked under her legs. I press play on the remote and wrap my arm around her, holding her close to me. I see the title of the film for the first time, not having looked before and see that it is 'The Fault In Our Stars' again. After everything today, I'm so not prepared for this film. I may seem tough but this film gets me every time. I'm not sure if it is just the story that gets to me or if it's got more to do with Tegan being recently diagnosed with cancer for the second time, but either way I always end up crying through it. But I can't tell Peri the reason's why I cry at it because Tegan and I agreed not to tell her until we know what's going on with her treatment. The only people that do know are me, Cameron, Ziggy, Celine, Kim and obviously Tegan herself. The only reason Celine and Kim know is because the looked at her file on the hospital system. Cameron comes over and sits down beside me, I lean my head on his shoulder and he strokes through my hair. He knows I don't like this film, so whenever Peri wants to watch it he does exactly what he's doing now.

The credits roll down the screen as my tears roll down my cheeks. I look over at Peri and see her asleep snuggled into my side. I then look at Cam and see him watching me, he reaches out his hand and wipes away my tears, I give him a watery smile and he kisses the top of my head. "Want me to take Pez up?"

I nod as he stands up, he bends down and lifts Peri up off the couch and heads upstairs with her. I turn off the telly and take the bowl of popcorn over to the sink. I walk back over to the couch and go to sit down but I jump straight back up and begin to pace the room. He watches me for a while before coming over and standing in front of me, making me stand still. "Lee, talk to me." He says gently, putting his hands on my shoulders. "I don't want to lose you." I whisper.

"Why would you lose me?" He asks confused.

"You might want to sit down." We walk over to the couch where he sits down and I sit on the coffee table opposite him. "Just hear me out before you say anything okay?" I receive a nod and take a deep breath.

"A few years ago, not long after Peri turned 9, I met a man called Josh and we dated for just under 2 years and we'd been going out for about a year when... I... um... found out that I was pregnant. But when the baby was born I was told that she died, I didn't even get to hold her before they took her away from me... And then today I was in Mum and Dad's room and I found..." I reach over to my bag and rummage around for the letter before handing him it. "This letter... That's why I was upset earlier. So today I drove to the foster home she's living at and I spoke with the head care worker, Jake, and we talked for a while and he said I could adopt her, and he-he let me take her out shopping and I bought all the stuff she's gonna need. He agreed to bring her here tomorrow to meet you guys and get to know the place. And I-I really need you to be okay with this, because I don't think I can do this alone but I understand if you don't want to be with me, I mean I probably wanna be with me when I've just told you I have another daughter that is almost four years old..." He grabs my face and pulls my lips to his, cutting off my rambling speech.

"What was that for?" I question confused.

"I love you." He replies simply.

"You don't hate me?" I say hopefully.

"Lee, I could never hate you, I love you. And I'll stay with you until you tell me to leave... So what's she like?"

I smile happily. "Her name is Emma, she is four in fourteen days, she has golden blonde hair and emerald green eyes and she is absolutely adorable."

"Well I can't wait to meet her. What stuff did you buy?"

"I got a bed, a car seat, a push chair, some toys and other stuff like a duvet and cover and things like that." He stands slowly and reaches for my hand.

"Come on lets go to bed."

"I'll be up in a bit, I want to put the stuff in the spare room. It's empty apart from a few boxes." I say grabbing my car keys off the table next to me.

"Okay, do you want a hand carrying the stuff up the steps and stuff?"

Thank god, I don't think I could've carried it up those steps alone. "Please, they're really heavy."

"Come on then." He smirks, pulling me up and towards the door.

* * *

Once we finally have everything out of the car, we carry it all upstairs to the hallway by the door. "I can manage from here. Thanks Cam." I say my back against the door, blocking him from trying to open it. "Lee, I know you like to be independent but I want to help you." He reaches for the handle and tries to open the door. "Why is it locked? I thought you said it only had a few boxes in." He questions.

"Umm... it is. Mum and Dad locked it because... they didn't want... Rose, to get in any of it." I struggle, Rose wouldn't even believe that and she's two.

"Um-Hm, now what's really in there, come on you know you can tell me anything." He says resting his hand on my forearm.

I nod. "Hang on." I walk to my bedroom and go to my jewellery box, I lift up the top draw and remove the lining from the bottom of it, grabbing the key that hides there. I turn and move back to the locked door where Cam is waiting. I take a deep breath and unlock the door stepping out of the way, allowing him to go in and see what is really in the room.

* * *

**Cameron's P.O.V**

I walk into the room and the first thing I notice is that it is painted light pink and there is a white crib in the far left corner of the room. "It was meant to be her nursery." I turn and look back at the door where Leela stands. She walks further into the room and holds a small teddy bear close to her chest. "She didn't even get one night in here." A tear runs down her cheek as she speaks. I move over to her and wrap my arms around her while she cries into my chest.

After a few minutes her tears sub-side and she pulls away wiping her eyes. "Sorry, I'm being stupid, lets get started." She walks out of the room and drags the box with the bed in, over to the middle of the room. "Babe you are not stupid."

"Please don't Cam, I don't want to talk about it right now." She pulls the cot out of the corner and starts setting up the bed.

* * *

**Leela's P.O.V**

Just over two hours later and everything is set up the new toys replacing the old ones and the wardrobe emptied of baby clothes, ready for new ones. We put the cot and baby things into Mum and Dad's room out of the way before going back to Emma's room and locking the door again. "Why are you locking it babe?" Cameron asks, confusion evident in his voice.

"I don't want Peri and Teeg's finding out before I tell them." I reply softly beginning to yawn.

"I think it's time we went to bed babe." He says leading me to our room, we get into bed and he turns out the lights as I move closer to him, resting my head on his chest. "Night Lee, I love you." He whispers against the top of my head before kissing it lightly.

"Night Cam, I love you too." I mumble sleepily, closing my eyes.


	5. Home- Part 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters apart from Josh, Emma, Jake and any other characters I might add in throughout the story. I also do not on the brilliance that is Hollyoaks.**

* * *

_**"Night Lee, I love you." He whispers against the top of my head before kissing it lightly. **_

_**"Night Cam, I love you too." I mumble sleepily, closing my eyes.**_

* * *

**Leela's P.O.V**

I blink a few times before opening my eyes fully, I look at the alarm clock next to me and see that it is only 8:45am, so I turn over ready to reposition myself to go back to sleep and see that Cameron's not there. He never normally gets up before me unless he has work, but I know for a fact that today is his day off. So I get out of bed, tie my hair up, pull on my hoodie and cross the hall to check on Peri. I open her door and see her cuddled up against Cameron, with her head on his chest. I sneak back across the hall to my room and grab my phone before going back to Peri's room and quickly taking a few pictures of them. I don't have an awful lot of photos of Peri and Cameron together with Cameron being in prison for most of her life, of course he was wrongly charged but he still missed fourteen years of her life. I walk quietly over to the side of the bed and crouch down beside Cameron's head, I kiss his lips softly and his eyelids flutter before opening fully. "Hey." He says leaning up slightly to kiss me again, well as much as he can with Peri half laying on him. " Hey when did you come through here?" I whisper softly, so not to wake Peri.

"Around half four, I think. I got up to go to the bathroom and I heard her crying." He whispers back, his Scottish accent thick like it always is first thing in the morning.

"Did she tell you why?" I ask beginning to worry, this is the fourth time in 2 weeks that either me or Cam have ended up in her room.

"She said she was dreaming about them again." That's what she always says, she was dreaming about the crash.

"I'll talk to her when she wakes up." I say sighing, I already have to talk to her about Emma, this morning certainly is going well and its not even 9 o'clock yet. "I'm gonna go take a shower, do you want a hand moving her?"

"Nah, I think I'm gonna stay here until she wakes up."

"Okay I wont be long." I say standing and leaving the room.

I come down stairs to find Cam and Peri already dressed, with Peri sat at the table and Cameron in the kitchen making breakfast. I walk into the kitchen and take a slice of freshly buttered toast of his hand and then go over to the table where Peri is eating a bowl of cereal. "Hey Pez." I say happily.

"Hey Mum." She looks up at me with a smile before going back to her breakfast.

Cameron walks over with more toast and four glasses of orange juice. I shoot him a questioning look and he just holds up a finger telling me to wait. And a few minutes later Tegan rushes down the stairs with Rose in her arms, she grabs the extra glass off the table and downs it all in one before getting Rose's coat and her bag. "Right I've got to go to work, and Diane offered to have Rose so her and the twins can play for a bit."

"Teegs, when you've dropped Rose off will you come back here for like ten minutes, I need to talk to you. It's important."

"Yeah but you'll have to make it quick, give me a minute to take her next door."

"Okay so what do you want to talk about?" She asks sitting on the couch. I stand from the table and walk over and sit back on the coffee table resuming my position from last night. I look up and see Peri heading for the stairs. "Peri, you need to hear this too." She turns and comes over to sit next to Tegan, and Cameron comes over to sit with me. I grab his hand and clutch to it for dear life.

"I'm gonna tell you something and and I need you both to hear me out before asking any questions, okay?" They nod and I continue.

"I'm sure that you both remember when I was pregnant a few years ago?" I question and receive two nods.

"Well you know what happened... The other day I was in Mum and Dad's room and I... I found a letter in one of the drawers and it was from Mum... And it said that when the baby was born she made the doctors and everyone... Pretend she died." I receive two gasps and Cameron squeezes my hand in attempt to offer me some encouragement and comfort. I take a deep breath and continue. "I'm not sure why yet but... The letter had an address, and that's where I was yesterday." I finish and look up at them.

"I can't believe she would do that to you again, I know it's not the same as what they did with Peri but still. That's horrible, she must've been ill or something surely. You don't do that to your kid, you don't do that to anybody." Tegan rambles, I look at the clock and see that if she doesn't go now she'll be late for her shift at the hospital.

"Teeg's, you're gonna be late." I point out.

She jumps up and grabs her coat. "I'll see you later yeah." She says walking out of the door. I look at Peri and see her frozen, I realise she hasn't said anything yet and move to sit next to her pulling her close. "Are you alright Pez?" I ask running my fingers through her hair.

"I-I have a s-sister?" She stammers.

"Yeah."

"When can I meet her?" She asks looking up at me.

"Well, actually, the man that runs the foster home she lives in is bringing her here in about an hour. So she can come live with us soon. That's okay right?" I ask my happiness from the thought of Emma suddenly draining when I look back at peri. "Yeah of course, um, I'm gonna text Tom and tell him I can't go round today." She gives me a quick hug before going upstairs.

"That went better than I thought it would." I say as Cam comes and sits next to me, wrapping his arms around me.

"Me too, I'm gonna go to the shop, we need some more milk and stuff. Do you want anything?"

"Get Peri some strawberry laces and will you get some of the 3 for a pound sweets and some Cadbury's chocolate please. Oh and some blackcurrant and some orange juice, you know the dilute one." I say smiling up at him. He leans down and pecks my lips gently, before walking to the door. "Of course." He then opens the door and is gone. I go upstairs and unlock Emma's door ready for when she gets hear. After that I go into Peri's room and see her sat on her bed with her phone in her hand. "Hey."

"Hey." She replies. I go over and sit on the bed beside her.

"What you thinking?"

"Nothing."

"Come on Peri, you can tell me anything."

"I'm scared." She whispers.

"What are you scared of Pez?"

"I'm scared... I'm scared that you'll love her more."

"Oh Peri, babe I will love you both the same. You have been my whole world for the past fourteen years and you will be for the rest of your life. Just because there's gonna be another kid in the house doesn't mean I'll love you any less. It just means I have another person to love as well as you. I don't want you to ever feel like that but if you ever do I need to know that you feel you can talk to me."

"I know, I love you too Mum."She says hugging me tightly.

"Why don't we go downstairs and I'll make us some hot chocolate just the way you like it?"

"With marshmallows?"

"And cream." She grins up at me and we head downstairs.

About twenty minutes later and there is a knock at the door. I jump up and race to the door before pulling it open. My face falls instantly, and when I see who it is I roll my eyes, before I sigh heavily. "What do you want Zig?"

"Is Tegan there? I need to talk to her."

"No, she's at work and she won't be back 'til later. Now if you don't mind, I'm really busy today." I say impatiently, crossing my arms.

"Right, yeah, sorry. Er, just tell her to give me a call yeah? It's important." He turns and walks away and I shut the door. Around 30 seconds go by before there is another knock at the door. I swing it open and this time when I see who it is, my whole face lights up. "Hey!" I say brightly.

"Mummy!" Emma screams and charges at me, I pick her up and hold her close to me. "Hi baby." I say kissing the top of her head. I step to the side letting Jake in. "Would you like a drink?" I ask motioning to the couch.

"No, thank you I can't stay for long." He says taking a seat. My head snaps up, he can't leave he just got here. Emma just got here.

"What do you mean? She was supposed to stay for most of the day." I say annoyed.

"That's what I need to talk to you about actually. Is there anyone here that can watch Emma for a few minutes while we talk?"

"My boyfriend and my daughter."

"This may concern your boyfriend as well."

"Okay, just give me a minute. I'll go get them." I turn and run up the stairs into Peri's room. "Pez..."

"Yeah?"

"I need a favour."

"Okay what?"

"Well Emma just got here but her social worker needs to take to me and your Dad. So,"

"So you want me to watch her while you talk?" She interrupts.

"Please Pez, you'd be helping me so much if you would."

"Sure, why not, I suppose." She jumps of the bed and stands in the hallway, waiting for me.

"Wait there a sec while I get your Dad." I say crossing the hall to my bedroom. "Cam, she's here and her social worker needs to talk to us."

"What are we waiting for then?" He says jumping of the bed in a similar style to Peri, before grabbing my hand and leading me towards the stairs.

"Jake, this is my daughter Peri, and my boyfriend Cameron." He nods at Peri and reaches out to shake Cameron's hand.

"Emma?" She looks up from the couch and smiles shyly noticing all the people in the room. "Can you come here a second please?" She wiggles to the edge of the couch and stretches her right foot down on to the floor, before jumping off completely. She then runs over and stands in front of me looking up at my face. I crouch down to her level and smile at her. "This is my boyfriend Cameron." I point at him before continuing. "And this is your big sister Peri." I then point at Peri.

"Weally?"

"Yep."

"I wanted a big sistew."

"You did?"

"Yeah cos' then I can pway wif her."

"Well, now you do." I smile happily and tap her nose gently with my finger. "Right I need to talk to Jake for a bit so, how about you go upstairs with Peri and then when I'm done, she'll bring you back down okay?"

"Otay." She turns to Peri and grabs her hand before looking back at me, I nod at her encouragingly and she turns to look up at Peri who leads her upstairs.

"So what do you need to talk to us about then?" I ask once again gesturing to the couch. We all sit down and Jake clears his throat.

"I received a phone call last night, a couple of hours after you dropped Emma off actually, and I was informed that there is a child desperately in need of somewhere to stay for a while. However, we don't really have the space back at the home, so once I ended the call, I went through all of the information that you gave me. And your job obviously helps with you being a part of the fire department. So with all of the information you provided, I was able to rush the adoption process, and if you are willing to, I was hoping that you would be able to take Emma now."

"Wait so that's why you can't stay long? You're not taking Emma early?" I question.

"No Miss Lomax, quite the opposite. So can you take her today?"

I look at Cameron, hope gleaming in my eyes. "Of course we can." He says smiling at me.

"Great! I just need to see where she will be sleeping to see if it is a suitable environment for a child to stay in, everything downstairs looks alright as far as I can see though."

"Yeah, I can show you that now." I say standing up. He nods and grabs a notepad and a pen out of his coat pocket before also standing up at the same time as Cameron. We go up stairs and towards Emma's new room, which I open before guiding them in.

"When was this room painted? Just because you have to wait a certain period of time before allowing a child to sleep in it."

"Over four years ago, it was meant to be Emma's nursery." I reply and watch as he writes something in his notepad. He then walks around the room, stopping occasionally to look at things.

After another few minutes, he slips his notepad back in his pocket and looks over to us. "Well everything looks okay in here. There is nothing to suggest any reason why she will not be safe placed in your care. Now do you have any questions?"

"When do we need to pick her stuff up?" I ask, wondering whether or not it will be today.

"Her stuff is downstairs by the door already, so it's not necessary."

"It is?"

"Yes. Judging by how eager you were to spend yesterday afternoon with her, I figured that you would be more than happy to take her in." He looks down at his watch before looking back at me and Cam. "Now, I just need to speak with Emma and then I need to go, so that I can prepare Emma's room for the other child I was talking about earlier." I nod and lead him into the corridor to wait with Cam, while I go get Emma.

I push open Peri's door, to see Emma watching telly at the bottom of the bed and Peri on her phone up at the top of it. I clear my throat and Emma's head darts round to face me, her little face lights up and she scoots backwards, sliding down off the bed facing the wall opposite me. "Mummy!" She squeals, crashing into my legs. I look over at Peri and catch her watching me but as soon as I look at her she looks back down at her phone.

"Hey Em, Jake wants to talk to you for a minute okay?"

"I don't wanna go back yet." She says sadly looking down. I kneel down and grab both her hands softly.

"Emma, look at me... You're not I promise."

"Weally?"

"Really."

"Otay." She say wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Come on." I say grabbing her hand and leading her out of the room, into the hall where Cam and Jake are. Jake kneels down in front of Emma and looks at her closely. "Emma, do you remember what we were talking about in the car this morning?" She shakes her head.

"I told you that there is a little boy that needs to come and stay at the home for a bit. And he will be staying in your room."

"Where I stay?"

"What do you think of Leela and Cameron?"

"I wike them, Leela my Mummy!" She says proudly.

"Yeah she is Emma. Do you like it here then?" She nods her head shyly.

"Would you like to stay here?"

"I can stay wif Mummy?"

"Yes if you want to."

She turns to me excitedly."I get ta stay wif you Mummy!" She squeals happily.

"I know baby girl." I smile back at her brightly. Jake stands up and straightens his clothes. "Well, I think that's everything. So unless you have any questions I had better get back."

"No, I don't think I have any questions." We walk him downstairs, Emma holding my hand tightly and he grabs his coat.

"Her bags are there." He says gesturing to the floor next to the door. "This is my number if you need anything." He then hands me a card. "Goodbye." He turns and opens the door, closing it behind him, leaving us staring after him. The silence is broken by a gentle tugging on my top and Emma saying "Mummy?"

"Yeah Emma?"

"I need da toyet."

"Lets go then." I say picking her up and walking back upstairs. "Can you manage or do you need help?" I ask placing her down.

"No, I do it mysef I's a big giwl." She says pointing proudly at herself.

"Okay then. Just shout if you need me." I say and she nods before entering the bathroom and closing the door. A few minutes later and the door handle wiggles, but the door itself doesn't open. "Mummy?" She yells panicking.

"I'm here baby, do you need some help with the door?"

"Yeah." She whimpers and I open the door. She races straight into my arms, tears running down her cheeks. "Hey, it's okay, you're okay." I say rubbing her back.

"I fowt I was lock in again." She mumbles into my shoulder. 'Again' I think.

"I've got you now." She calms after a few minutes of me whispering her soothing words in her ear. "Did you manage okay?"

"I can't weach da sink." She says hiccuping.

"Well I can fix that. Wait here kay?"

"Tay." I go into Mum and Dad's room and pull down the steps to the attic before climbing up the steps. After a couple of minutes of rummaging through Peri's boxes from when she was Emma's age, I find the little pink fold-up stool I was looking for. I retreat down the steps and push them back up to the ceiling. When I get back to the hall there is no sign of Emma, I turn to check if she is in Peri's room but I hear a frustrated sigh coming from the bathroom. I smile and push open the bathroom door and smile when I see her standing on her toes, stretching up trying to reach the taps. I walk up behind her and lift her up so she is still facing the sink. I put the stool on the floor close to the base of the sink and set her back down on top of it. She giggles and reaches for the tap again, managing easily this time. I grab the soap, put some on her hands and hold her hands in mine rubbing it in. Once we're done, she hops down off the stool and we go back into the hall. "Why don't we get Peri and then we can go down stairs and find something to do?"

"Otay."

"Do you remember where Peri's room is?"

"Umm... Dat way?"

"Yep." I say and we head in the direction she said. "Now which way Em?"

"Dis one!"

"Let's see." I push open the door and she squeals clapping her little hands. Peri looks up and smiles uncomfortably.

"Hey what's up?" She says putting her phone facedown on the bedside table.

"We thought you might wanna come do something with us downstairs." I smile.

"Umm... Okay, just... um...give me a sec." She says reluctantly.

"Just whenever you're ready Pez, it's okay." I say gently, making a mental note to talk to her alone. She nods and we exit the room, closing the door behind us.

* * *

Peri comes down stairs about 10 minutes later, phone in her hand. She walks over to the table where we are sat and sits close to Cameron leaning into his side, and resting her head on his shoulder. "You okay Pez?" He asks wrapping his arm around her. She nods and he rubs his hand softly up and down her arm.

"Cam, can I talk to you for a minute in the kitchen please?"

"Yeah, sure." I stand up and turn to Emma. "Stay there a minute okay?"

"Otay." I smile and head to the kitchen shortly followed by Cameron.

"What's up babe?"

"I was wondering if you could keep an eye on Emma for like 15 minutes..." He opens his mouth to speak but I cut him off before he gets the chance. "I just need to talk to Peri, I know she's not okay."

"If you had let me speak," He smirks. "Then you would know that I was going to say yes and I was even going to offer to make lunch."

"Thank you, I really appreciate it, I know it's not fair of me to ask you to watch her because she's my kid and I should be looking after her not palming her off on you." I ramble embracing him in a hug.

"Babe, you're not 'palming her off' on me. It's completely fair, besides if she's your daughter then I want to get to know her not spend her life ignoring her. Go talk to Peri, I got Emma covered. Go on." He releases me and pushes me in the direction of the table with an easy smile on his face.

"Peri, can I have a word upstairs please?" She stands slowly and walks upstairs. "I'll be up in a minute." I shout after her.

"Emma, I need you to stay with Cameron for a bit okay?"

"Whewe you go-in?"

"I just need to talk to Peri upstairs, I wont be long. But Cameron's gonna watch you yeah?"

"I wanna stay wif you." She says her lip trembling.

"Oh Em," I walk round the table and pick her up. "I promise I'll be right upstairs in Peri's room and when I'm done I'll come straight back down here and we'll have some lunch. Maybe we can go to the park or something since it's sunny." She lifts her head off of my shoulder and perks up considerably.

"Pawk?"

"Yeah whatever you want, now come on you can help Cameron cook." We reach the kitchen and I go to set her down on the side, but she tightens her grip around my neck. "Please, Emma look, I'll show you something." I finally detangle myself from her and go over to the clock, pointing at the big hand where it sits at number 6. "You see this hand." She nods. "Well I will definitely be back down by the time it gets to here." I say motioning to the 12 at the top of the clock, to give myself time with Peri.

"Tay." She says looking down.

"Hey," I raise her chin and look her in the eye. "I promise." She reaches out her little finger and I take it with a smile.

I turn and walk upstairs into Peri's room to see her leaning against her headboard. I walk over and sit beside her, she smiles up at me and leans into my side. "Peri?"

"Yeah?"

"Talk to me?"

"What about?"

"Peri, I'm not stupid. I know you, talk to me please."

"I-I heard you guys in the hall before, with that Jake. Were you just going to let me figure it out by myself or were you actually going to tell me that Emma's living here now, rather than building up to it over a few weeks. I just met her like an hour ago and it's just a bit too much at the minute. I'm still getting used to you being my Mum and now I have a new sister. I need you Mum." She mumbles her last few words but I just catch them. I pull her closer into my side and kiss the top of her head. "Peri, why didn't you tell me this morning?" I sigh. "Of course I was going to tell you, that's why I wanted to talk to you but then I knew there was something wrong, so before we talk about that, I need to know if there's anything else bothering you."

"No, I promise, it's just a lot to take in."

"Okay... you told me that you know you can talk to me, but you still kept it all bottled up and pretended that there's nothing wrong."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too Pez."

"I understand you know."

"Understand what babe?"

"That Emma needs you right now and you need to be close to her because you didn't even know she was alive... I just wanted you to know that."

"Pez, just because I have Emma now too and she needs me, doesn't mean that you don't. I am gonna do my best to spread my time evenly between you both. But Peri, if you ever feel overwhelmed or anything, you need to promise me that you'll talk to me."

"I promise."

"And I need you too Pez. I love you."

"I love you too Mum."

We sit for a while and I look at the clock seeing it's only 11:50am. I wait until it is 11:55am before sitting up properly. "Why don't we go get something to eat yeah?"

"Okay." I hug her tightly before pulling her up and together we walk downstairs.

* * *

**Cameron's P.O.V**

**11:30am downstairs **

I look at Emma, who is still sat on the side staring at the floor. I sigh and move to stand in front of her. "Emma? Are you okay?" I ask, receiving a small nod but she still doesn't look up.

"What do you want for lunch? Are you hungry?" I try. She shrugs her shoulders and I sigh again. I go to the cupboard and pull out one of the chocolate bars I bought earlier. "I guess I'll have to eat this chocolate by myself then." Her head shoots up and I smirk. But my smile falls instantly when I see tear tracks on her face. She doesn't seem to notice though as she smiles back at me. "Would you like some?"

"Yesth pease." I open the bar and break off a square passing it to her.

"Now, what do you want for lunch?"

"I don't know."

"Do you like pizza?" She nods.

"Why don't we go to the shop and see what we can get then?" She hesitates. "We'll be back before your Mum comes down."

"Otay den." I lift her off the side and place her on the floor. I grab some paper and a pen and write a short note, just in case she does come down before we're back. I grab Emma's coat and put it on her buttoning it up, before pulling on my own jacket and shoving my wallet in my pocket. I place the note on the table and head towards the door, realising Emma isn't following me. I turn and see her trying to pull on a little pair of boots, I walk over and help her, this time getting her hand to make sure she's with me.

We get to the steps and on the fourth step down, I decide that if we're going to back in time for Leela coming downstairs, then I'm going to have to carry Emma down the rest of the steps because normally I would have been half way to the shop if I was alone. I turn to her and swing her up into my arms and in less than twenty seconds we were at the bottom. I then place her on the ground and re-take her hand, resuming our trip to price slice. We round the corner and I walk right into Lockie, I inwardly groan, wishing I had just looked in the freezer. "Alright Cam, who's this then?" He crouches down in front of Emma and she moves to hide behind my legs." This is Emma, she's Leela's daughter. I'll explain later." I bend down to Emma's level and look at her. "This is my brother Lockie." I stand and pull her in front of me and she waves shyly. He smiles at her and then looks back up to me. "So where you off then?"

"We're just going to the shop to get something for lunch aren't we Emma?" I say placing my hands on her shoulders and she nods.

"Why don't you just pick up something from The Hutch, that way you don't have to cook. Plus, I'm supposed to be meeting Porsche there now and you can be the reason I was late."

"You realise I'm a chef right and that I spend most days there."

"Of course, but you owe me so lets go."

"And why do I owe you?"

"Because little brother, I got you that cash."

"Fine." I crouch next to Emma again and she looks straight at me.

"Do you mind if we go get food from somewhere else?" She looks back towards the direction of the house before looking back at me. "It's okay Emma we have time."

"Tay." I grab her hand and we begin walking to The Hutch. It's pretty busy around the village today and everyone keeps looking at Emma, Lockie and I. I can tell that she feels uncomfortable with it from her appearance, so I once again swing her up into my arms. She wraps her right arm around my neck and rests her left arm on my shoulder placing her thumb in her mouth, burying her head in the crook of my neck. When we reach and enter The Hutch, we see Porsche sitting at a table talking to Theresa and Dodger, she looks up and glares at Lockie before standing and coming over to us. "Where've you been Lockie? I've been waiting for the last fifteen minutes."

"Sorry, that's my fault." I step in. "I had to talk to him about something." She looks over at him questioningly.

"Yeah... But I'm here now so why don't you sit down and I'll get you a drink."

"Fine. Who's that?" She asks pointing at Emma.

"This is Emma, she's Leela's daughter. Don't ask me to explain." I say briefly and she nods. Emma raises her head at the mention of her name and twist round, thumb still firmly in her mouth. She looks around at the new surroundings before turning back to face me. "We go back ta Mummy an Pewi now?"

"Soon, we just need to get the food. What do you want?" I grab a children's menu off the table next to us and hold in front of her. I'm glad Tony decided to make the it a picture menu because it's so much easier, especially since it is in four option blocks. "Okay so pick something on this row." I instruct gesturing to the first row of choices: chicken nuggets; fish fingers; cheese burger and pizza.

"Ticken nuggats."

"Then this row." Smiley faces; mashed potato and chips.

"Um... Tips."

"And this row?" Peas; beans and salad.

"Peas."

"Okay and a drink?" Orange; blackcurrant; apple and lemon fruit shoots.

"Owange."

"Right let's order this then. Lockie, you coming?" I ask and he nods following me over to the bar.

"Cameron, what can I get you?" Diane asks smiling.

"Can I get two fish and chips, a macaroni cheese and a children's chicken nuggets, chips and peas with an orange fruit shoot. A Diet Coke, a Fanta and a Sprite. To take out please Diane." I say.

"That'll be £28.75. Around fifteen minutes."

"Thanks." I wait while Lockie orders and then we go over to Porsche to join her Dodger, Theresa and her kids. I sit with Emma on my lap still leaning on my chest. "So who's this then Cameron?" Theresa asks turning away from the pram beside her. "This is Emma." I say simply and for the second time in less than ten minutes, her head snaps up at the mention of her name. Still her thumb never leaving her mouth. "So, is she like a relative or something?" Theresa presses.

"You could say that I suppose, she's Leela's daughter."

"I didn't know she had another kid."

"It's not my place to tell." I answer.

"So how old is she?"

"She's three." Her head springs back up.

"I not thwee, I neawy four. It my buwthday in fuwteen days." She pouts.

"Sorry, I meant she's four in thirteen days" I say in a mock-serious tone. They laugh and Emma sits up slightly more.

"Cam-a-wan, what numba is da pointa at now?" Everyone looks at me confused, I push up the sleeve of my jacket and look at my watch. "Nine, we have fifteen minutes."

"But what if Mummy comes downsterws befow we get back?"

"If. She comes downstairs before we get back then it'll be fine because we left a note on the table."

"Otay."

"Do you want a drink while we wait?"

"Yesth pease."

"What do you want?"

"Can I have duice?"

"Yeah sure what kind?"

"Bwackcuw-cuwwant pease." I stand up and set her down on the seat. "Wait here okay?"

"Can't I come wif you?" I crouch down next to the seat and she turns to face me.

"I'll only be over there and I promise I won't be long."

"Otay." She says looking down.

"Hey, you know Lockie." She raises her head again and turns to look at Lockie. "This is Porsche, she's married to Lockie."

"Pawsha." She tests.

"This is her cousin Theresa."

"Treesa."

"And this is Dodger."

"Dodga."

"Yeah see now you know everyone's names. Are you okay to stay here now?" She still looks reluctant but she nods.

"Lock, keep an eye on her will you?" He nods and I turn and go to the bar.

"Can I get a blackcurrant and water in one of those plastic cups please, just half-full will do and can I have straw in it cheers."

"Sure, here you go, that is £1 thanks." I hand over the money and head back over to the table to see Emma smiling up at Lockie. I smile myself and pull up another chair next to Emma. I figure it's probably better that way while she's found some confidence. I place the drink on the table and she moves to kneel on her chair, leaning closer to the table to take a sip. I reach out and hold the cup steady, until she pulls back, sitting on her chair properly again. Five minutes later and Diane calls me over to get the food. "Finish that quickly while I grab the food okay Emma?" She nods and picks the cup up, now that it is nearly empty, and finishes it off. I take the food from Diane as she asks about Emma and I once again repeat what I've told everyone else that has asked. I go back over to the table and fasten up Emma's coat again. "Ready Emma?" She nods and slides off of her chair. "Say goodbye then." She turns to Lockie and throws her little arms around his side, leaving me completely shocked. She then walks back to me and raises her arms, signalling she wants to be picked up. I lift her up using the arm that isn't holding the food and she waves at the rest of the people at the table. I say my goodbyes and we head out of the door.

Once outside, Emma looks around the village as we walk, it takes less than five minutes to get back to the house and into the kitchen. I place Emma back on the side next to the bag and get four plates out, positioning them in a line on the side. I then start moving the food over onto them. When I'm done I take two plates over to the table, before returning to the kitchen to fetch the other two plates. I make a final trip to the kitchen to lift Emma from the side on to the floor. "Can you carry this for me?" I ask holding out the fruit shoot which she takes happily. I take the note I left on the table and put it in the bin along with the bag from the food. On the way back to the table, I see Leela and Peri coming down the stairs smiling. They come over to the table and we all sit down Leela and I at either end and Peri and Emma opposite each other. Emma moves to kneel on the chair so she can reach, so I stand and grab a cushion before lifting Emma off the seat to put it down. I then place her back on the seat, tuck her chair in more and sit back down.

* * *

**Leela's P.O.V**

Once we are all sitting down, Emma switches her position to kneel on the chair but before I can move to help, Cameron is already on his feet and placing a cushion underneath her. I smile to myself happily and take a drink. "So where'd you get the food from then?" I smirk.

"What do you mean?" He says evenly not looking up.

"I know for a fact that you didn't cook this because a) we didn't have this stuff in and b) you didn't have time to make it all, especially since it's three different things."

"What can I say, I am a chef." He answers smugly. I look at Emma and see her trying to cut up her chicken nuggets.

"Want some help Emma?"

"Yesth pease." She smiles gratefully, as I take her plate and begin cutting it up.

"Sooo... Emma," I start as I smirk across the table at Cameron.

"What did you do while we were upstairs?"

"Cam-a-wan took me to da pwace whewe he werwks, an I met his bwothew an his wife Pawsha, an her cusin Treesa, an man cawled Dodga."

"I knew you didn't cook it." I say shaking my head still smiling as I pass Emma's plate back to her and we eat the rest of our lunch in a comfortable silence. About fifteen minutes later and we're just waiting for Emma to finish, she's got her left elbow on the table and her chin resting on her fist while she occasionally raises her other arm to eat. But her eyelids are beginning to close and she's yawning more often than she's eating. Eventually she starts to push what's left of her food around the plate so I stand and take the other three plates to the sink before walking back to the table and crouching down next to her. "Emma?" I say softly, shaking her slightly.

"Huh?" Her head shoots up and she looks at me, eyes already closing.

"Why don't we go upstairs and you can go to sleep for a little bit?"

"Bu- I not tiawed." She yawns.

"Come on." I stand and gather her up into my arms, heading towards the stairs.

"No!" She starts kicking her legs and throwing her arms around.

"Emma stop." I say firmly, but she keeps kicking.

"Put me down! I not tiawed!"

"Emma!"

"I no go sleep!"

"Okay Emma, just stop you're going to hurt yourself!" I raise my voice above hers to be heard and she stops, letting out an exhausted whimper while tears run down her cheeks. I walk over to the couch and sit down with her in my arms, rocking back and forth slightly, running my fingers through her hair. "It's okay." I whisper. After a while she calms down and she sits up a little bit more. "Better?" She nods sleepily. "What do you want to do now then?"

"Pawk?" She yawns.

"Later, what if we watch a film?"

"Tay."

I turn and call Peri through from the kitchen where she is helping Cam with the dishes. "Yeah Mum?"

"Can you grab me a few DVD's that will be okay for Emma to watch please Pez?"

"Yeah sure. But I thought you were trying to get her to go to sleep?"

"I am, but I don't want a repeat of before so I figured I'll just wait 'til she does." She nods and runs upstairs, returning only a few minutes later with a collection of children's movies. "Thanks Pez." She nods again and goes back to the kitchen. I place the DVD's on the coffee table in front of us and Emma turns to look at them. "Which one do you want on?"

"Minyons!" She says excitedly.

"This one?" I ask pointing at Despicable Me.

"No, Puwpul minyons!" She says pointing at it's sequel.

"Okay then." I move her to sit on the couch next to me and crouch down next to the DVD player. "Do you like the purple minions then Emma?" I question setting the film up. I turn back to her and she nods enthusiastically before saying. "Yeah, puwpul minyons go raar!" I laugh and sit back on the couch, pulling her onto my lap again. She cuddles up close resting her head against my shoulder. Ten minutes into the film and Cameron and Peri join us, at first Emma sits up straight to keep herself awake but after a while she droops back against me, though her eyes stay fixed on the telly. I raise her left arm and release it and it flops right back down. I laugh and Cam and Peri turn to look at me, so I repeat the action and Cameron smiles at me. It takes a further fifteen minutes for her to give into sleep but I decide to wait a while to take her upstairs just in case she wakes up again.I wait a little while longer and then I stand and head towards the stairs holding her tightly.

I reach her bedroom and open the door, walking over to the bed and kneeling down beside it. I pull back the covers and lay her down on the bed, she mumbles something and scratches her cheek as I remove her shoes. I place them neatly on the floor beside the bed before turning back to her. I pull up the covers and tuck them under her chin. I then move a few loose strands of hair out of her face, I lean over her and lightly press my lips to her forehead. Then I stand and walk over to the window to close the curtains, when they are closed, I kiss Emma's forehead once more and then leave the room pulling the door shut before heading back downstairs. "We can put a different film on if you want." I say sitting down next to Peri.

"Okay." She says standing and looking next to the telly to see what is already there.

"Just not The Fault in Our Stars again Pez, we've seen it loads."

"Kay." She chooses a film and puts it in the DVD player: The Parent Trap. I love this film I used to watch it with Tegan all the time when we were younger. Peri sits back down in between Cameron and I and cuddles into my side as the movie begins to play...

* * *

**This chapter will be in two parts as it was getting to long.**

_**-Idontwannabeanythingother**_


	6. Home- Part 2

**SO sorry it's been ages since my last update, but my laptop was broken. Hopefully it shouldn't be as long between updates now.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters apart from Josh, Emma, Jake and any other characters I might add in throughout the story. I also do not on the brilliance that is Hollyoaks.**

**Also just to clarify, in this story Cameron didn't kill Sam and Danny it was someone else but everything else did happen (robbing The Dog, and other things that I can't think of right now.)**

* * *

_**"Kay." She chooses a film and puts it in the DVD player: The Parent Trap. I love this film I used to watch it with Tegan all the time when we were younger. Peri sits back down in between Cameron and I, and cuddles into my side as the movie begins to play...**_

* * *

**Leela's P.O.V**

I pull my phone out of my pocket and check the time, 2:30pm, that means the film has about ten minutes left. I place my phone on the couch next to me and turn my attention back to the film. Just as it begins to show the pictures of the wedding at the end, I hear whimpering somewhere behind me so I turn and see Emma standing on the second step from the bottom of the stairs. She is shaking and has tears streaming, the sight breaks my heart. I jump up and rush over to her, pulling her into my arms and holding her close, I kneel down facing the steps. "Emma what's wrong baby?"

"I-I, I f-fowt y-you t-tated me b-back. I-I d-din't kn-know w-whewe I w-was." She hiccups unable to calm down just yet. I stroke through her hair and kiss the top of her head while she cries into my shoulder. "It's okay Emma, I got you. I'm never going to take you back there, this is your home now okay?"

"O-otay." She murmurs. After a while of whispering reassuringly in her ear and holding her tightly, her cries turn into soft whimpers and sniffling. I sigh sadly, I just wanted her to have a good day, but she's only been here for a few hours and she's already cried twice. She shifts in my arms so that she's facing me, she looks at me intently for a moment before looping her arms back around my neck. "Are you okay now Em?" She nods. "Well how about we go to the park then?"

"Yay!" She yells excitedly, cheering up instantly. I smile and stand up still holding Emma. "Why don't you go ask Cameron and Peri if they're ready to go?"

"Otay." She smiles and wriggles down to the floor before running over to the couch to stand in front of Cameron. "Cam-a-wan, you rety ta go ta da park?" He smiles and nods and she turns to face Peri. "Pewi come?" Unlike Cameron Peri looks unsure, she looks at Cameron who gives her an encouraging nod and then looks back at Emma. "Sure." Emma then runs back over to me and raises her arms to be picked up, which I happily comply to. "Dey sayed yes Mummy!" She exclaims, smiling brightly.

"Really?" I ask pretending I didn't just hear or see their responses.

"Yesth."

"Why don't you grab your coat off the chair over there yeah?" I put her back on the floor.

"Tay." She says, skipping off happily. She grabs her coat, pulls it on and then rushes past me before running up the stairs. "Careful Emma, you'll fall." I call after her smiling. Although it kills me that I missed almost four years of her life, I am happy that I still get to experience some firsts with her. Like last night, when I tucked her up I bed for the first time, and seeing her smile, hearing her musical little laugh and taking her to the park like I'm about to do. Even seeing how excited she can get so quickly. I know it's not her first time to do all the things I missed out on but to me it is because I've just found her. A few minutes later and she comes running back down the stairs. when she reaches the second to last step, she trips and falls forward, but luckily I catch her. She locks her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. "It's okay, I'm not gonna let you fall, If I can I will always try to catch you okay? But if I can't get to you in time I will pick you straight back up." She nods into my chest. "Let's finish getting ready for the park, yeah?" Her head shoots up and she nods vigorously, her fall forgotten. She wriggles down and runs over to the couch and tries to pull Cameron up. He pretends for a moment that he's stuck, before allowing her to pull him from his seat. I look down at her feet and see that she is now wearing her little pale pink Ugg boots, that must be what she went upstairs for. "Emma, do you have any other shoes with you?" She turns to look at me confused.

"Why?"

"Because we don't want those cute little boots of yours do get all mucky do we?" She shakes her head and runs over to her suitcase by the door. She unzips it and pulls out a pair of grey pump/trainers with sparkly silver stars on, another pair of the same but in pink and some red Peppa Pig wellies with a deep blue bow on the front. She then turns to me after lining them up in a row in front of her. "The wellies Em, the others will get ruined." She nods placing the other shoes back into her bag before sitting on the floor and trying to pull the wellies on. I chuckle and walk over to her. "So, Emma, where do you stand with push chairs?" I ask as I crouch down and lift her left leg up to rest on my knee so that I can pull one of the wellies on, I then put the other one on her right foot. "I don't need won cos I's a big giwl." I nod, stand her up, zip up and button her coat and then stand up myself. I turn to face Cameron and Peri with a smile, Cam's already pulling on his black leather jacket but Peri's still sitting on the couch. "Are you ready Pez?"

"Yeah," She stands up. "I just need to grab my phone from upstairs and then we can go." She then turns and heads upstairs without looking back. I look at Cameron questioningly and he just shrugs.

"Can you grab that thing for me? It's by Emma's wardrobe upstairs, just in case."

"Oh you mean the-"

"Yep! That's the one." I interrupt, gesturing to Emma. He nods and walks upstairs as well. I get my coat and put it on before grabbing my bag. "Got everything Em?"

"Yesth."

"Do you need the toilet before we go? We might be a while."

"Otay. Can you come wif me, I don't wanna get stuck agen."

"Of course, come on." I say holding out my hand, which she takes happily and we too head upstairs. Five minutes later and we are all down stairs again Cam and Peri standing beside the purple pushchair I bought yesterday. "Why got dat?" Emma asks confused as she points at it.

"Um... do you need to get anything before we go?" I say changing the subject.

"Don't fink so."

"Let's go then." I take her hand and lead her out the door, followed by Peri and Cameron with the pushchair. As soon as I step outside the cold pretty much hits me in the face, so once everyone is outside I transfer Emma's hand into Cameron's and go quickly back inside. I walk over to the couch and grab a blanket off the arm before heading outside again. I lock the door and we go down the steps, me carrying Emma, Cameron carrying the pushchair and Peri walking beside me. When we reach the bottom I put Emma down and notice that she's shivering. "Mummy, I cold." She says, I kneel in front of her and hold her hands.

"Why don't you get in the pushchair just until we get to the park yeah?"

"But I wanna walk."

"Do you like ducks?"

"Yeah."

"Well if you get in the pushchair, we can stop and buy some bread and then we can feed the ducks when we get to the park okay?"

"Otay!" I lift her and place her in the pushchair before strapping her in and place the blanket over her, but she kicks it off immediately shouting "NO!"

"What's wrong Emma?"

"Don't want dat bwanket, want my bwanket."

"Where's your blanket then?" I sigh.

"Jake put it in my bag. He sayed I too old to tate it wif me but I wike my bwanket."

"Okay well I'll go get it for you, wait here with Cameron and Peri." I run back up the steps and decide to just take her whole backpack. I go back outside, lock the door again and head back down the steps to Cam, Peri and Emma. I kneel down again and start looking through the bag, before I find the blanket, I come across the cutest little pink matching hat, scarf and gloves sll with little beige bows on them. "Lets put these on too Em, they'll keep you warm." After putting them on her I go back to the bag and pull out the blanket. I freeze, I thought I'd lost this, Mum said it must have been lost before she was born but Emma's had it with her all along. She had something of me. I smile and look up at her. "This one?"

"Yeah!" She exclaims happily. I laugh and place it over her. "It's still cold, do you want the other one on top?"

"Otay." She says pulling the first one up so the top of it is left uncovered by the second one. I clip the padded bar in place in front of her and stand up, I walk around the pushchair and grab the handle. I look expectantly at Cameron and he places his hand on Peri's back pushing her forward slightly before setting off himself and I follow beside them. After stopping at Price Slice to buy some bread, we set off again. As we walk through the village, everyone we pass stares at Emma until it gets to the point that they would have to turn around and walk past again. "Mummy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do evwyone keep looking at me? I don't wike it."

"Hang on a sec Em." I stop walking and turn to face Cameron who also stops.

"Cam, it has another setting-type-thing where you can turn it to face the other way, can you give me a hand please?" After a few minutes we manage to move the seat, without having to get Emma out again, so that she is now facing me. "Better?" I ask her.

"Yesth." She smiles.

"Good. Let's go then." I smile back and we set off again.

"Mum..."

"Yeah Pez?"

"Can I ask Tom to come?"

"I wanted it to just be us, so we can all get to know your sister properly."

"Yeah, but I need to talk to him."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just wanted him to come. I thought if I said I needed to talk to him you would let me ask him... Please Mum, I'll make an effort when we're at the park."

"Fine, but you'll ring him now because we're not far from The Dog."

"Thanks Mum."

"Yeah, just call him." I roll my eyes and she pulls out her phone happily.

"Hey Tom... Yeah... We're going to the park and I was wondering if you wanted to come?... You do?... Great, we're almost at The Dog... Okay... See you soon... Bye."

"Is he coming?"

"Yeah, he's going to wait outside The Dog."

"Okay." A couple of minutes later we round the corner to see Tom standing outside The Dog. "Hey Tom." Peri smiles brightly after he jogs over. "Hey." he grins before directing a nod at Cameron, Emma and I, to which I smile back and Cameron huffs muttering something under his breath. Then we once again start walking.

Ten minutes later, we reach the gate of the park and we can already hear the ducks. As soon as Emma notices, she sits up straight and her head darts from side to side. "Mummy look! The duckies!"

"Yeah, there's loads isn't there?" I reply and she holds her arms out towards me, grinning eagerly. "Out Mummy! Get me out, pwease!"

"Wait a minute Emma, just 'til we get over there. We're only just past the gates." She squirms in the pushchair for about thirty seconds before her silence is broken. "Now Mummy?" She asks and I laugh.

"Fine, but you have to hold someone's hand okay?"

"I will, I pwomiss." She answers immediately. I stop walking, take the blankets off her and un-strap her, and she practically jumps out of the pushchair into my arms. She wriggles down, then grabs my hand quickly and starts pulling me towards the pond. "Cam, can you get the pushchair?"

"Yeah sure." Then I let her pull me after her. She lets go of my hand when she reaches a group of ducks and runs into the middle of them. "Careful Emma, don't go too close to the water."

"Quack Quack! Quack Quack!" She yells giggling. As she jumps around, the ducks start to run from her and she chases after them still yelling and giggling. Cameron, Peri and Tom come to stand beside me and Emma runs over to stand right in front of Cameron. She gestures for him to get down to her level, so he kneels down and waits for her to talk. "The duckies won't pway with me." She pouts, hands on hips, serious expression and he steels his face to stop himself from laughing, however Peri scoffs and Emma looks at her confused for a second before turning back to Cameron. "You pway wif me?" She asks, looking hopefully at him.

"Of course." He smiles at her and stands up as she grabs his hand.

"Quick, come on, 'fore dey run away." She then pulls him away over to the ducks, giggling again. Once they're gone, I turn to Peri. "What was that about? You're supposed to be making an effort."

"Seriously? She said that the ducks wouldn't play with her, _the ducks._ It wasn't exactly likely that they were going to was it, they're ducks not people."

"Peri, she's three not thirteen. Give her a chance, you've only known her a few hours, you said you would try."

"Yeah three, what do I have in common with a three year old, she's not even my full sister."

"It doesn't matter if she's you're her full sister or not, she's still your sister."

"Well I don't need a sister, I had two, at least I thought I did and that was all a lie. You know that, you were one of them, I obviously didn't need sisters then since I don't have them anymore and I don't want another one now."

"Well I'm sorry, but you don't have a choice. If Mum hadn't done what she did when Emma was born, then you would already know her and you would probably have a similar relationship with her to the one you have with Rose, so I'm afraid you'll just have to get on with it."

"Rose is different."

"How Peri? How is she different? Emma is as much a part of your family as Rose is, when Rose was born you were really happy, you were holding her and everything. If you'd grown up with me as your Mum and your Dad hadn't gone to prison, then it's likely you would have had a brother or sister a few years younger than you."

"Well I didn't have you as my Mum did I? And Dad went to prison, and I didn't have any other brothers or sisters. Why couldn't it have stayed just us? Me, you and Dad."

"Peri, I know this is gonna take time to get used to, but you need to give us a chance. You need to give Emma a chance. She's only three... Please?"

"Okay." She says after a couple of minutes.

"Thank you," I sigh. "Why don't you and Tom go buy some drinks from the shop round the corner?" I pull out some money and hand it to her. "Okay, what do you want?"

"Get two coffees, a hot chocolate and whatever you guys want."

"Alright, we won't be long." She says and then leaves with Tom, catching his hand as they go out the gate. I look over to Cameron and Emma, to see him picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. She squeals and starts giggling again as he comes back over to me. "Where did Peri go?"

"They went to get some drinks from that shop we passed on the way here."

"Oh okay." He swings Emma down, holding her with one arm and starts tickling her. Her giggles turn into full blown hysterical laughter as he keeps going, both of us now laughing as well. "Stop... Stop Daddy! Stop!" She laughs and we both freeze. She keeps giggling until she calms down and stops laughing. "Mummy?" She says twice before I realise she's talking to me.

"Sorry Emma, what's up?"

"Whewe'd Pewi and dat boy go?"

"They went to get some drinks."

"Can we feed da ducks now?"

"Yeah of course, why don't you get the bread from under the pushchair yeah?" I say taking her from a still half-frozen Cameron and standing her on the ground. She runs straight over to the pushchair and I turn to Cameron. "Hey, I'm sorry, I can talk to her if you want?"

"No, it's fine. I don't mind. It's actually kind of nice, since I wasn't around for Peri."

"If you're sure?"

"I'm positive Lee."


	7. Note

Really sorry, I know I said it wouldn't be long before the next update but I my laptops been doing this thing where it pops and knocks off at the most inconvenient times, therefore forcing me to have to constantly restart chapter 6. Although luckily it is my birthday on the 16th and I'm getting a new laptop, so it shouldn't be too long after that, that I update again.


	8. Truths and lies

_Sorry guys, just realised I have changed how far away Emma's birthday is in like every chapter, so just to clear that up, it would be 8 days in chapters 1-4 and from chapters 5-present chapter it would be 7 days. I'll try not to mix it up._

* * *

_"Yeah of course, why don't you get the bread from under the pushchair yeah?" I say taking her from a still half-frozen Cameron and standing her on the ground. She runs straight over to the pushchair and I turn to Cameron. "Hey, I'm sorry, I can talk to her if you want?" "No, it's fine. I don't mind. It's actually kind of nice, since I wasn't around for Peri." "If you're sure?" "I'm positive Lee."_

* * *

__**Leela's P.O.V**

"Emma, come here for a minute." I call and she crosses the little bridge on the climbing frame before coming down the slide. She runs over to me where I am now sitting on a bench with Cameron and climbs onto my knee, waiting for me to speak. "I think it's time to go now Emma." I say tucking some of her hair behind her ear. "But I wanna stay." She pouts.

"I know, but it's almost time for tea. Aren't you hungry yet?"

"No, wanna pway."

"We can play at home too."

"I wanna pway on da swings."

"Ten minutes okay?"

"Tay." She answers jumping down and running over to the red swing set. She stops when she reaches it and turns back towards us. "Mummy, come push!" She yells climbing on to a swing. I smile at Cameron as I stand up. "You coming?"

"Sure." He stands and takes my hand, and we head over towards Emma. When we reach the swing set, Cameron's phone buzzes so I move behind Emma, while he checks who it is. "Babe, I'm really sorry, I have to go into work. Tony says Ste called him saying he couldn't go in."

"Do you have to?"

"Yeah, but I shouldn't be too late."

"Okay." He walks around the swing and kisses my forehead. "See you later yeah?"

"Yeah, Emma, say bye to Cameron." She twists round on the swing to look at us confused.

"Whewe you going?"

"I have to go to work."

"Why?"

"Because they need me."

"Why?"

"Because someone else couldn't go in."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Why?"

"I just don't, but I need to go now."

"Otay, I come too?" She asks and he lifts her up, so they're the same height.

"No, you need to stay here with Mummy and Peri."

"Tay."

"I'll see you at home later okay."

"Otay den, bye Daddy!" She says flinging her arms around his neck.

"Bye Emma, go to Mummy." He says leaning her towards me after a while. I take her from him and he kisses my head again. "I'm gonna say bye to Peri and then I'm going."

"Okay." I reply and he turns and walks over to Peri and Tom.

"Mummy, wanna swing now!" Emma complains trying to wriggle down.

"Sorry Emma, there you go." I say sitting her back on the swing. "Hold on tight."

"I will Mummy, push!" She squeals happily.

"Emma come with me a minute." I say grabbing her hand and walking over to the bench where Peri and Tom are sitting. "Peri, I need you to watch your sister for a minute."

"Why?"

"Because I have to pee."

"Fine, don't be long though."

"I won't. Emma, Peri's gonna watch you for a little bit okay?"

"Otay."

"Good. Peri, keep an eye on her and don't let her leave the park."

"Yeah."

"Right, I won't be long." I say letting go of Emma's hand and nudging her towards Peri before turning and heading towards the gates.

**Peri's P.O.V**

I turn back to Tom with a sigh after Mum is out of sight. "Tom I need to tell you something."

"What's up?"

"Pewi?" Emma interrupts and I turn to see her standing in front of me just staring.

"What?"

"You pway wif me?"

"I'm talking to Tom, go play with the ducks again. Don't leave the park."

"Otay." She replies and skips off again as I face Tom again.

"Right, don't freak out."

"Why would I freak out?"

"Just promise me you won't leave."

"I promise."

"I-I'm... I'm, um... I'm pregnant."

"What?"

"I'm pregnant... I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to."

"You're pregnant?" He asks to clarify and I nod, tears rolling down my cheeks. "Oh god. What are we gonna do?"

* * *

"I only left fifteen minutes ago, you can't possibly wait until I get back?... Yeah, that's what I thought... I'll see you later... Okay, bye." I can't even go for a run without interruptions. I jog through the park gates past some kids. I decide to go in the direction of the pond today, since I went the other way yesterday. When I reach the pond, I see a little blonde haired girl sitting quite close to the water edge crying hysterically. I look around waiting to see if someone is on their way over to her, but this area of the park is deserted. I jog over and kneel down beside her and she looks up at me but doesn't stop crying. "Hey are you lost?" I ask and she shakes her head. "What's wrong?"

"M-my... Knee... H-hurts." She cries.

"Did you fall over?"

"Y-yeah. I... W-want... My M-mummy!"

"Do you know where she is?"

"S-she went ta da t-toyet."

"What about your Daddy?"

"H-he had ta g-go ta w-werwk." She hiccups.

"What's your name?"

"E-emma."

"My name is Sienna. Can you stand up for me?"

"I fink s-so." She pushes herself up and I grab her hands to help her stand, she wobbles back a little bit closer to the water so I help her walk over to a bench a few meters away. "Does your Mummy know you're over here?" I ask sitting her on the bench and she shakes her head. "Can you tell me your Mummy's name?"

"S-she cawled L-leela." She must mean a different one, the Leela I know only has Peri.

"Sweetie, what's your Daddy called?"

"C-cam-a-wan." Leela and Cameron, that's got to be a coincidence.

"Let's try and find your Mummy okay?"

"Tay." She answers starting to calm down. I help her down from the bench and she yelps when she bends her knee. "Do you want... Do you want me to carry you?" I ask hesitantly and she nods raising her arms. I pick her up and head back in the direction of the gates. I pull out my phone with my free hand and scroll through my pictures until I get to one of me and Leela. "Emma, is this your Mummy?"

"You know my Mummy?"

"Yeah, I'll call her now okay?"

"Otay." I didn't know Leela had another kid, and I've known her since she moved to the village. I go onto my contacts and quickly find Leela's name before clicking on it to call her. "Hey... Um I need to talk to you... I was just running through the park... You are?... Great, I'll see you in a few minutes... Bye."

"Whewe she at?"

"She's on her way now, we'll meet her at the gates." I say and a few minutes later, we're standing just inside the park waiting for Leela. She walks in less than a minute later and starts to head down the path. "Mummy!" Emma yells causing her to spin around to look at us. "Emma?" Leela questions coming back over to us. "Why aren't you with Peri?" Emma leans towards her and when Leela takes her, she buries her face in her neck. "I found her by the pond alone, she was crying her eyes out. She fell over and hurt her knee." I tell her as she turns to me. "Thanks for calling me, I left her with Peri while I went to those toilets just outside the park, but they were locked so I had to run home... Emma, where's Peri?" She asks turning her attention to Emma. "She still wif Tom at da bench."

"Why aren't you with her?"

"Pewi told me ta come pway wif da duckies again, while she talked to Tom." She looks back at me shaking her head. "I'm gonna kill her. We can talk on the way back to her?"

"Yeah, I was just wondering why you didn't tell me you had another kid?"

"Long story, but if you want, after I kill Peri, you can come to mine and I'll explain it to you. If you're not busy I mean." She offers and I laugh.

"Yeah, I'm sure Nico can cope without me for a bit longer."

"Great, let's go." She says and we start walking towards the play area of the park. When we get there we see Peri alone sitting on a bench shaking slightly. "Sienna, can you take Emma for a minute?"

"Yeah of course." She passes Emma to me before walking over to Peri, she looks ready to shout until she moves in front of Peri and sees her face. I walk closer and see Peri trying to dry the tears that are rolling freely down her cheeks. "Peri? What's wrong?" Leela asks crouching down in front of her. "Nothing Mum, I'm fine."

"How's Emma?" She questions, knowing that Peri hasn't noticed me and Emma standing off to the side of her. "Um... She, she's fine."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Where is she then?"

"Um..."

"Because you see, Sienna called me before and she told me that she found Emma crying by the pond that was asking for me because she'd fallen over and was alone. You wouldn't know anything about that would you, how Emma got to the pond by herself?"

"She must have wandered off when I wasn't looking."

"I've already asked Emma what she was doing by the pond and you'll never guess what she told me. She said that you told her to go play with the ducks again because you were talking to Tom. Any idea where she got that from?"

"Mum, I'm really sorry."

"What possibly made you think it was okay for her to be alone? And by a pond?"

"I'm sorry, but she's okay right?"

"No she's not 'okay'. She fell over and got hurt, you're just lucky Sienna found her. Because anyone could have taken her, or she could have fallen into the pond. She's three Peri! Three! She can't exactly look after herself can she! What would you have done if you couldn't find her? Or you found her and she was drowning in the pond?"

"Mum, I'm really, really sorry. I didn't think."

"What was so important that you had to send her away so you could talk to Tom? So important that you couldn't watch her for ten minutes while I went to the toilets?"

"I can't tell you."

"Why, Peri? Nothing can possibly be that bad that you can't tell me!"

"I just can't!" She yells standing and running off. Leela sighs and walks back over to us, where Emma is starting to fall asleep on my shoulder. "Emma, baby? Try not to fall asleep yet, okay?" She says and Emma nods sleepily into my neck, one thumb in her mouth, the other around my neck. "Can you hold her for another minute while I run and get her pushchair from over there?"

"Of course." She turns and walks over to a bench by the swings, returning not long after with the pushchair in front of her. "Emma come here." She says holding her arms out, and Emma happily complies. "Do you think you can walk for me Emma?"

"Want you ta cawwy me."

"I know, but I need you to stay awake until we get home."

"I won't fall asleep, I not even tiawed." She yawns.

"If you say so. You ready Sienna?"

"Yeah, let's go." I reply and we head back towards the park gates, Leela carrying Emma who is sitting on the handle bar of the pushchair. "Do you want me to push that while you're carrying Emma?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course."

* * *

**Leela's P.O.V**

It takes around ten minutes to get back home, which is less time than it would take if Emma was walking to be fair. Once inside, I take the pushchair from Sienna and move it out of the way of the door. "Coffee?" I ask Sienna, heading into the kitchen. "Yeah, thanks." I switch the kettle on and sit Emma down on the counter. "You hungry Emma?" She nods, sleepily. "You like chicken right?" She nods again, I then tell her not to move and grab some bread and the packet of sliced chicken out of the fridge. I figure a sandwich will be the quickest thing I can make for her to eat before she falls asleep again. Once it's ready, I lift her with one arm and then take the plate in my other hand. I sit her on the floor by the coffee table and place the sandwich on the table in front of her, before heading back to the kitchen to make the coffee.

I head over to the couch, hand Sienna her coffee and sit down on the other seat of the couch tucking my legs up underneath me. "So you have another kid. That's..."

"Strange? Yeah I know. I didn't know about her until a couple of days ago."

"How does that work? Not to be rude or anything, but surely you know when you've had a baby. I mean, it hurts. You would remember that."

"No, I remember having her. It was just another way that Mum hurt me."

"What do you mean?" She asks but I'm stopped from replying when Emma tugs on my sleeve.

"What's wrong Em?"

"I sit wif you?"

"Of course you can. Let's get you in your pyjamas first though okay?"

"Otay."

"I'll explain in a second Sienna, I just need to get her changed."

"Sure, no problem," I stand and move over to the door where Emma's little suitcase is, before grabbing it and heading back to the couch. I sit down and find some pyjamas in the case, then put it on the floor beside my feet. I pull Emma into my lap and remove her t-shirt, replacing it soon after with the pyjama top. I raise her up slightly and take off her jeans, then slide the pyjama bottoms on. I lie her clothes over the arm of the couch and move myself back into my previous position. Emma turns to face me and sticking her thumb firmly into her mouth, she buries her face in the crook of my neck, her free arm resting on my other shoulder. "When I was 23, I was with this guy, Josh. We'd been together for around a year when I found out I was pregnant. I was so happy, it was like my second chance after Peri. We decorated a room, we picked out her name, everything was perfect." I say running my fingers through Emma's hair.

"What happened then?"

"When Emma was born, my Mum made the doctors pretend she was still-born. I didn't even get to hold her Sienna. Mum blocked my view of them leaving the room while she told me that Emma didn't make it." I explain sadly looking down at Emma, who is quickly falling asleep on me. I look over at the clock and see it's just after six, that's around the time I put her to bed at the home last night.

"Why would she do that?"

"I'm not sure yet... I need to put Emma to bed, I don't suppose you could follow me up and open her bedroom door for me, could you?"

"Yeah, of course. Now?"

"If you don't mind?"

"Of course not, let's go."

"Thanks." Sienna stands, takes my coffee from me and sets both mugs down on the coffee table. I adjust Emma in my arms and slowly stand up, she moans at the movement but doesn't say anything, so I turn and head upstairs with Sienna following behind me. When I reach Emma's room, I move out of the way so that Sienna can open the door for me and then follow her into the room. I try to lie her down but she grips tightly onto my shirt, so I sit her on the bed and kneel beside it. "Come on Emma, let go for me, baby." I say, gently pulling on her fingers. She takes her thumb out of her mouth and hooks her other arm back around my neck. "Don't wanna go bed, Mummy." She mumbles.

"Please Em, you need to go to bed now."

"Not tiawed Mama." I pull her into my arms and begin to rock her slowly back and forth. I start to sing softly to her.

'Hold me close and hold me fast the magic spell you cast this is la vie en rose

When you kiss me, heaven sighs  
and though I close my eyes  
I see la vie en rose

When you press me to your heart  
I'm in a world apart  
a world where roses bloom

And when you speak, angels, sing from above  
Everyday words seem  
to turn into love songs

Give your heart and soul to me  
and life will always be  
La vie en rose'

By the time I'm finished, she is fast asleep in my arms so I lie her down on the bed and carefully untangle myself from her. I pull the covers over her and kiss her forehead. "Sweet dreams baby girl, I love you." I whisper standing and heading out of the room after Sienna. I pull the door so that it is still open a little bit and then we head downstairs. "She's adorable Leela."

"I know, I just wish I knew about her sooner."

"There's no point thinking about that now, you just need to focus on having her again and that now you can spend time getting to know her."

"Thanks Sienna."

"No problem. I better get going, Nico will be wondering where I am."

"Can you let me know if you see Peri on your way home?"

"Of course, I'll ask Nico if she's heard from her too."

"Yeah, that would be great."

"Okay, well I'll see you later."

"Bye." I call as she leaves. "Mummy?" I spin round to see Emma standing at the bottom of the stairs, so I walk over to her and pick her up. "You are meant to be asleep little miss."

"Need my bwanket Mama."

"Well let's get it then yeah?"

"Tay." I head over to the pushchair, Emma secured in my arms, and grab her blanket before passing it to her. "Do you need anything else, Em?"

"I have a dwink pwease?"

"Of course you can, but just a little one okay?"

"Tank you."

"No problem baby. Are you gonna wait on the couch while I get it?"

"Wanna stay wif you Mummy."

"Okay then." I head into the kitchen and grab a plastic cup out of the cupboard and place it on the side. "What do you want to drink?"

"I have milk pwease?"

"Yeah." I turn and get the milk from the fridge and then pour some into her cup. Then I get a straw and walk to the couch so we can sit down while she drinks. Just as I sit down my phone signals I have a text, so I pull it out of my pocket to see a message from Tegan.

'Can you get Rose from Diane? I can't leave yet, someone just came in from a car accident. Tx'

'Yeah, no problem. Do you want me to get her now? Lx' I reply.

'Please, thanks Leela. Tx' I put my phone back down and check how much milk is left in Emma's cup. Thinking about it, I'm glad that Emma came back downstairs, because even though Diane lives next door, I wouldn't like to be out if she woke up. "Emma, we have to go somewhere okay? It won't take long."

"Whewe we go Mummy?"

"Well, my sister needs me to go get her little girl for her because she has to work."

"Like Daddy?"

"Yeah just like Daddy." I smile.

"We go now?"

"When you've finished your milk." She puts the straw back in her mouth and finishes the milk in seconds. "Weady!"

"I thought you were tired?"

"I not tiawed anymowe. Mummy, what's your sistew cawled?"

"Tegan."

"Is she my sistew too?"

"No baby, she's your auntie." I laugh.

"Is her little giwl my sistew?"

"No, she's your cousin."

"My cousin?"

"Yeah."

"What's she cawled?"

"Rose."

"I pway wif her?"

"Not tonight baby, you're both going to bed."

"She going in my bed too?"

"No, Rose has her own bed just like you do."

"Oh... We go get her now?"

"Yeah, let's go." I answer standing up with Emma. "You'll have to put your shoes on for me Emma."

"Why?"

"Because Rose can't walk as good as you can."

"Otay den. I wear my wellies?"

"If you want to."

"Yay!" I grab her wellies and slip them on before heading out the door to Diane's. We only have to wait a few minutes before the door opens to reveal Sinead. "Hey, Tegan sent me to come get Rose because she can't get off work."

"Yeah, Mum said she'd text her, come in, I'll get her stuff together for ya."

"Thanks." I follow her inside to see Rose, Dee Dee, Ant and Diane sitting on the floor playing with some teddies. "Mum, Leela's here for Rose." Sinead calls and Diane looks up with a smile, before standing and moving to us. "Hey, has she been okay?" I ask Diane when she reaches us. "Yeah, she's been great... Oh, hello again." She says noticing Emma. "Again?" I repeat confused.

"Yeah, Cameron brought her to The Hutch before. Emma, isn't it?"

"Oh, right, of course. Yeah, Emma."

"I didn't know you had another kid."

"I'd rather not get into it right now actually."

"Yeah. Yeah of course. How old is she? If you don't mind me asking."

"She's three."

"I neawy four Mama."

"Sorry Em."

"Aww, bless her, she's adorable Leela."

"Thanks. Did Ste tell you why he couldn't work?"

"Just said he was ill."

"Oh, is he working tomorrow?"

"Yeah, he's meant to be."

"Right. I'll call him later, see what he says."

"Mum, where's Rose's coat?" Sinead interrupts.

"It's on the back of one of the chairs at the table."

"Got it." A few minutes later she comes over carrying Rose and a small bag of things as well as her coat. "Do you want a hand?" She offers seeing Emma holding onto my shirt.

"Emma baby, are you gonna walk for me?" I ask and she nods so I look back to Sinead. "No it's fine. Thanks though." I place Emma on the ground and take Rose and her bags from Sinead.

"Thanks for watching her, I'll get Tegan to text you later."

"No problem, anytime."

"See ya. Come on Em." I turn and head back home, with Emma holding onto the side of my shirt and Rose looking around curiously. When we go inside, I place Rose's bags on the couch and sit her on the floor so I can help Emma take her wellies off quicker, then I pick Rose up again. "Upstairs now baby." I instruct and she climbs up the stairs in front of me and Rose. "Emma, go play in your room for a bit okay? Just while I put Rose to bed."

"Otay." Emma goes into her room and I quickly sort Rose and put her to bed before heading through to Emma's room. She is sitting on the floor colouring a picture in one of the books I bought her. "Hey Em." She spins round and smiles widely.

"Mummy!"

"What are you colouring?"

"It's a suwpwise Mummy, you can't see yet."

"Oh. Are you gonna finish it in the morning then?"

"Can't I finish it now?"

"It's bed time baby."

"Tay." She closes her colouring book and puts it on the rocking chair by the window along with the colouring pencils. "Where's Pewi, Mummy?" She asks and I sigh.

"I don't know Emma."

"Is she coming back?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Is Daddy back yet?" She asks climbing into bed and pulling the covers up.

"No, but he shouldn't be too long."

"Can I stay up 'til he gets back?"

"Sorry Em, but you need to go to sleep."

"Ohh."

"What if I send him up when he gets back so he can give you a hug?"

"Otay."

"Lie down then." She lies down and I adjust the covers so they're up to her chin. I kiss her forehead and brush her hair out of her face. "Sleep tight baby. I love you. Come get me if you need me okay?"

"Otay Mummy, I love you too."

"Night, night." I stand and knock the light off before leaving the room and closing the door.

* * *

_So sorry for the delay, I've got exams all this week at school and my work experience next week. But I'll try my best to update soon._

_-Idontwannabeanythingother_


	9. Work

**_I am so sorry for the amount of time it has been since I last updated. I can't quite remember the order in which things happened as this story is set back in, I think it was January so I'm gonna pretend that the Lovedays as well as Ben and possibly other characters were there before Peri's pregnancy storyline was introduced. I'm going to write as if Ben is already dating Sienna and she is working in Price Slice, although Sienna does not yet know about Carly (Ben's daughter). If I have confused anyone, feel free to PM me and I will try to clear things up better._**

* * *

"_Lie down then." She lies down and I adjust the covers so they're up to her chin. I kiss her forehead and brush her hair out of her face. "Sleep tight baby. I love you. Come get me if you need me okay?"_

"_Otay Mummy, I love you too."_

"_Night, night." I stand and knock the light off before leaving the room and closing the door._

**Emma's P.O.V**

When Mummy shuts the door I get out of bed, pull the rocking chair under the light switch, and turn the light on. I can't go to sleep yet because I haven't got a pull-up on, and I don't want Mummy to get mad if I wet the bed through night. I don't want to tell her I still need them at night, I don't want her to think I'm a baby. Nicole and some of the other kids called me a baby for still needing them and sometimes they were mean to me because of it. I just want Mummy to like me and if she knows I wear the pull-ups she might be mean like Nicole and send me back to Jake because he says only babies wear them. I can't remember where my bag is, so I can't go get one. I'll have to stay up all night again like when Jake forgot to buy some. I climb off the rocking chair and get my picture back out so I can finish it for Mummy.

**Leela's P.O.V (The next morning)**

"Lee, where's Peri? She's not in her room." Cameron asks coming into the kitchen.

"She's stayed with Nico last night, Sienna texted me after I put Emma to bed last night. I was gonna tell you but I fell asleep before you got back."

"What about school?"

"I'm gonna ring Sienna now, get her to send her home, Peri's phone must be either off or dead 'cause it's going straight to voicemail. Will you go wake Emma for me, please?"

"Yeah of course." I grab my phone just as there is a knock at the door so I head over before unlocking, and opening it. Standing there is Peri, Nico and Sienna, so I move back and let them in. "Hey, why didn't you use your key Pez?"

"Forgot it."

"Right. Thanks for bringing her back Sienna, you guys wanna wait 'til she's ready?"

"Actually, I am meeting Ben for breakfast at the 'bean' before his shift starts, so I have to go. But Nico was hoping to wait, if that's alright?"

"Of course. Have fun with Ben."

"Thanks Leela, see you later Nico. Bye Peri."

"Bye Mum."

"Bye." I walk Sienna out and as I turn to face Peri and Nico I see them already on their way up stairs. I sigh walking into the kitchen and decide to talk to her when she gets back from school. A few seconds later, Cameron walks down the stairs and into the kitchen carrying Emma, who has her head resting on his shoulder and one hand clutching her blanket with her thumb in her mouth. He whispers something to her and her head shoots up to look at me. Immediately she reaches out for me to take her and I pull her to me with no hesitation. "Morning baby."

"Morning Mummy. Pewi back now?"

"Yeah, she's upstairs Em."

"I go pway wif her?"

"Not right now, she's gotta get ready for school."

"I go school too?"

"Not yet, but you will soon."

"Can I help Pewi get ready?"

"She'll be down soon, she's with her friend."

"Who's her fwend cawled?"

"Nico, she's Sienna's little girl."

"I pway wif her?"

"No baba, she has to go to school too."

"Oh. Do you and Daddy have to go to school Mummy?"

"Grown-ups don't need to go to school baby, they go to work instead."

"Are you going to werwk?"

"Daddy is but I'm not. I'm looking after you."

"Mummy?" She's only quiet for a minute or two before she speaks again.

"Mhmm?"

"I hungwy."

"What do you want to eat baby?"

"Powwidge."

"I don't think we have any porridge, toast or cereal?"

"Toast pwease."

"Okay, why don't you run upstairs and ask Peri and Nico if they've had any breakfast for me?"

"Tay." I place her on the floor and she runs off up the stairs so I turn, grab the bread and put four slices in the toaster. Then I get the butter, jam and philadelphia and put them on the table. "Cam, do you want some toast?"

"No thanks, I've gotta go to work."

"Again?"

"Yeah, sorry babe."

"It's fine. What time do you finish?"

"Seven…"

"Are you serious?"

"I would have only been in 'til three but Ste told Diane he's still ill."

"Oh, um, I'm gonna go get Emma. You can say bye to her."

"Okay." I turn and head upstairs in the direction of Peri's room. I push open the door and look around to see only Peri and Nico in the room. "Peri, where's Emma?"

"How should I know?"

"Because she came up to ask if you wanted anything to eat."

"Yeah, I told her no and then she left."

"Oh, well you need to hurry up. You're gonna be late."

"Okay." I leave Peri's room and head towards Emma's room. I push open the door and walk straight into her. "Sorry baby, I didn't see you there." She just smiles and holds her arms behind her back.

"Close your eyes Mummy!" She squeals, excitedly. I kneel down in front of her and close my eyes while she giggles. "Hold out your hands."

"Okay, this better not be something slimy or disgusting." I say opening one eye to look at her.

"Mummy! Eyes closed!"

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry."

"Ready?"

"Yep."

"Otay… Tada! Do you like it?" I open my eyes to see what I assume is the drawing she wouldn't let me see last night. "I love it, its beautiful baby!"

"Weally?"

"Of course! Why don't we go put this on the fridge huh?"

"Yeah!"

"Come on then Em." I take her hand and lead her downstairs into the kitchen and over to the fridge.

"Right where abouts do you want it?"

"I don't know."

"How about near the top? That way everyone can see it?"

"Otay." She nods shyly. I grab a magnet and stick the picture at the top of the fridge and then step back to take a look. I swing Emma up into my arms so she can see it better as well. "What do you think?" I ask her and she nods again shyly but this time also showing pride in her picture.

"Good. Now go say bye to Daddy okay?"

"Why?"

"He has to go to work Em."

"Nooo!" She whines wriggling down and running over to the couch where he's sitting.

"Hey princess, what's up?" He holds his arms out for her but she stands in front of him with her arms crossed and a pout on her face. "No."

"No what?"

"You no go ta werwk."

"Sorry Emma, but I have to."

"Noooo." She whines as I walk over and pick her up.

"What if we go see Daddy in his break, is that okay?" She buries her face into my neck and nods. "Good girl, say bye then." Cam stands up and reaches out for her and she happily wraps her arms around his neck. "Bye, bye daddy!"

"See you later princess." I take her back just as Peri and Nico walk downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Bye Pez. I'm going to work now."

"Kay, bye Dad." After that Cameron kisses my cheek and Emma's forehead and leaves the house, so I walk over to the kitchen and grab the toast. Then I set Emma up with some on a plate at the table. "What do you want on your toast Em?"

"Butter pwease."

"Okay." I spread it for her and then walk back into the kitchen to see Peri and Nico looking at something on Peri's phone so I clear my throat to draw their attention. They look up and Peri looks at me confused. "What?"

"You're gonna be late Peri. You need to go."

"Right, are you working today?"

"I don't think so."

"Okay bye."

"Bye Pez, bye Nico." Nico mumbles a goodbye as they head towards the door.

"Pewi! Whewe you go?"

"School."

"I come too?"

"No. Bye." And they walk out the door.

"Mummy I finished."

"Let's get you ready then."

"Why?"

"We need to go buy you some more clothes baby."

"Oh."

"Come on, you need a bath." I say picking her up from her chair and heading upstairs with her.

"I no need a bath Mummy, I clean!"

"Really? When's the last time you had one then?"

"Uh, when you camed ta da home."

"See you are definitely not clean. Let's go." With that I head upstairs into the bathroom with Emma.

* * *

I walk into yet another shop with Emma in the pushchair, she wasn't happy about it but I managed to convince her that it was a good idea after around twenty minutes of her complaints. "Mummy? We go see Daddy now?"

"Not yet babe, we aren't done shopping. We still need to get you some more shoes and a few other things, okay?"

"Otay." I pick up a few things and head towards the checkout to pay before leaving the shop and heading towards Starbucks. "Do you want a drink baby?"

"Yesth pwease."

"What do you want?"

"I have a hot chocolate pwease?"

"Of course."

After ordering our drinks and sitting down with them, we sit in a comfortable silence until my phone starts ringing. I don't bother checking who it is, I just bring it straight to my ear.

(Phonecall)

Leela: Hello?

Work: Hey Leela, sorry to interrupt your day, but we need you here.

Leela: Is there no one else that can come in?

Work: You do understand what 'on-call' means right?

Leela: Of course, it's just, there's some things going on right now.

Work: I know what you mean, life can be tough but we really need you and it's urgent.

Leela: Okay, I'll be there as soon as possible.

(End of phonecall)

"Who dat Mummy?" I sigh, running my hand through my hair and standing up.

"I'm really sorry baby, but I have to go to work." I reply as I strap her into her pushchair again, then I walk over to the counter with the drinks before asking for them to be transferred into to-go cups. I thank the waitress and turn to head back to Emma only to see her trying to get out of the pushchair. "Emma, sit still. Here's your hot chocolate, careful though, it's still hot."

"No want you ta go ta werwk." She whines as we leave the shop.

"I don't want to go either baby, but I have to."

"Why?"

"So we can have more days like this, and so I can buy things for you and Peri."

"And Daddy?"

"Yeah, Daddy too." We head back to the car in silence and it stays that way until we are both seated in the car and I pull out of the carpark.

"Mummy?"

"Yeah baba?"

"Whewe I go when you go ta werwk?"

"I'm not sure yet Em."

"I stay wif Daddy?"

"I don't know, he's still at work too."

"Pewi?"

"She's at school baby."

"Can I stay wif Auntie Si Si?"**(Said Cece)**

"Who?"

"Auntie 'enna, from the park."

"Sienna?"

"Yes Mummy! That's what I said!"

"Sorry Emmy. We'll see okay?"

"Otay."

By the time we get back, Emma is fast asleep in her car seat, so I get out set up the pushchair and carefully lift her into it. I cover her with her blanket so the change in temperature doesn't wake her up and then I lock the car. It only takes just over five minutes to get to The Hutch and when we go inside I can't see Cameron anywhere. That is until he moves over to the center of the kitchen so I can see him through the hatch. He turns around, smiling when he sees us, and then he leaves the kitchen and comes over. "Hey, you're early. My break doesn't start for another forty-five minutes, but I can I get you something to eat while you wait if you want?"

"Hey babe, I know we are, but I just got a call and I have to go to work. I was hoping you maybe wouldn't be that busy and you could watch her?" I ask motioning to my sleeping daughter.

"I'm sorry Lee, I can't. We've got a huge party this afternoon and Tony needs me."

"It's fine Cam, I could ask Sienna maybe."

"I'm not sure about that Lee. I'm sure Lockie's free, I can just phone him and he can pick her up?"

"What exactly does Lockie know about kids?"

"Well, he'll probably be with Porsche and you know how many McQueens there are, she's bound to have experience with kids."

"No."

"What?"

"I said no."

"Why?"

"I don't want her round at that house right now. Reenie's usually drunk, they're always fighting and we both know what Porsche and Lockie are doing the majority of the time. Besides, what's wrong with taking her to Sienna's?"

"I suppose that's fair enough and there's nothing necessarily wrong with taking her to Sienna's, it's just, her history with kids isn't the greatest from what I've heard…" He trails off.

"So? That was months ago and she's my friend. Emma likes her already, and she only met her yesterday."

"What if something happens?"

"Nothing's going to happen Cameron. I'm going to ask Sienna. Can you keep an eye on Emma for ten minutes while I go and grab some stuff for her to take to Sienna's please?"

"What about-"

"I'm asking Sienna, Cameron. Can you watch her or not?" I question and he sighs deeply.

"Of course."

"Thank you I'll see you soon."

"Bye." I turn and leave The Hutch and quickly head home whilst pulling out my phone and calling Sienna. She answers straight away.

(Phonecall)

Sienna: Hey, what's up?

Leela: Hey Sienna, I was just wondering if you could do me a favor? I know you were with Ben, so it's okay if you can't.

Sienna: What's the favor?

Leela: Well Cameron's at work and I've just been called in as well, so I was hoping you'd be able to watch Emma? I would have asked Tegan but she's at work, and Peri's at school, and Cameron suggested Lockie but you know what the McQueen's are like and that's where he will most likely be, and-

Sienna: Leela.

Leela: Yeah?

Sienna: You're rambling. Of course I'll watch her.

Leela: You will?

Sienna: Yeah.

Leela: Great, thank you so much. I can drop her off in like ten minutes?

Sienna: Okay, I'm still at The Bean with Ben.

Leela: Do you want me to find someone else? I don't want to interrupt.

Sienna: You're not, besides I already said I would. Just bring her here.

Leela: Okay, thank you again Sienna. I'll see you soon, bye.

Sienna: Bye.

(End of phonecall)

Once inside the house I grab Emma's backpack and empty it out on to the couch to see what's in it that she might need while she's with Sienna, I throw in a hoody, some extra clothes just in case, one of the fruit shoots that Tegan bought for Rose, some crisps, two of the dolls I bought her and some of her colouring stuff. I put the rest of her stuff beside her other bag and then leave the house.

When I get back to The Hutch, Cameron is standing outside trying to calm a crying Emma. He shoots me a helpless look so I run over and take her from him. "Hey, what's wrong baby? Why're you crying Emmy? Huh?"

"Want my b-bwanket!"

"Where is it? Is it in your pushchair?"

"N-no, want it M-mummy!"

"Okay, just calm down for me and we'll find it okay baby?"

"O-tay." It takes a good few minutes before she calms down properly and in this time, Cameron went to get her pushchair from inside and brought it back out to us. "What happened Cam?" I ask him whilst slowly rocking Emma.

"She woke up and then she just... panicked. First because you weren't there and then because she didn't have her blanket. I'm sorry Lee, I just couldn't calm her down."

"It's not your fault babe. I should have checked she had the blanket, it must still be in the car. I'll go and get it before I take her to Sienna."

"Are you sure that's still a good idea?"

"I have to Cam, I've got no choice. She'll be okay. What time do you finish?"

"Around six."

"I should be back before the hopefully. I'll see you later though, I gotta go before they call again."

"Okay, bye Lee, I love you."

"I love you too."

"Bye Emma, be good okay?"

"Tay Daddy, bye bye." She says much calmer.

"Bye Cam, see you later." I kiss him quickly before heading back to the car with the pushchair.

Sure enough, when I get back to the car Emma's blanket is lying on the back seat next to her car seat; so I quickly grab it and hand it to her. "Happy now Em?" She nods smiling hugging the blanket close to her. "Right, we need to get you to Sienna because I need to go to work." I tell her heading quickly towards The Bean.

"I staying wif Auntie Si Si?" (Said Cece)

"Yeah, that's okay right Emma?"

"Yesth, you're coming back for me though, wight Mummy?"

"Of course baby. I'll see you when I finish work."

"Tay." We enter The Bean and I make my way over to where Sienna and Ben are sitting.

"Hey, sorry I'm late, I left her blanket in the car and she had a bit of a... Meltdown."

"It's fine it doesn't matter."

"Right, um, I need to go. Anything that she might need should be in this bag... I think. Anyway, thank you so much for this Sienna, I owe you."

"It's not a problem, really. What time do you finish?"

"I'm not sure, if it's going to be quite a while I'll send someone to come and get her. It could be Tegan or it could be Peri, I'm not sure who but I'll let you know."

"Okay, I'll see you later." I bounce Emma on my hip a little bit to keep her awake, and she raises her head to look at me. "Em I have to go to work now, you're gonna stay with Sienna for a bit remember?" She nods. "If it's not me that picks you up it will be Peri or Auntie Tegan, okay?"

"Rose's Mummy?"

"Yeah babe, I gotta go I'll see you later. Have fun." I pass her over to Sienna and put her bag in her pushchair. "Bye bye Mummy."

"Bye baby, thanks again Sienna. Bye Ben." After they both say goodbye I turn and leave The Bean to go to work.


End file.
